The Lost Child
by Asia1990
Summary: UNDER REWRITE! A young girl walks into Konoha all alone and right away, strange things start happening. The village's oldest wounds are forcefully reopened and all are powerless to stop it, the only one who can save them is the little girl who wasn't born in the village, the child with ties to two of Konoha's most prominent traitors. Rated M for a reason, OC, Citrus, no pairing yet
1. The Wandering Girl

Alright, folks. This is the moment you've all been waiting for!  
This is the first rewritten chapter of The Lost Child! :D

Please feel free to leave reviews on how you think it's coming along while I hurry up and start writing the next one.

-Asia

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A fine mist hung low through the ancient trees of the heavily wooded Fire Country, the sky was overcast with thick grey clouds that blocked out the early morning sun's rays, leaving an abnormal chill in the air for mid-spring. The leaves rustled and the branches swayed slightly, caught by a cool wind under threat of rain, a thin sheen of cold dew covering the lush, knee-high grasses and the forest creatures were startlingly quiet. A young girl walked down the path through the forest, her footsteps perfectly silent against the well-traveled dirt road, carrying nothing with her but a single black canvas knapsack on her back. A strange silence surrounded the girl as she walked, the wind slowed and the forest stilled, as if all was waiting until she passed, the slender girl coming to a stop at the base of a towering tree. With one effortless motion, the girl jumped into it's high branches and easily climbed to the top, long black hair swaying slightly in a gentle breeze.

Pupil-less steel silver eyes surveyed the landscape in silence, taking in every detail that the girl's sharp eyes could perceive from her high vantage point, scouting out the area as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ahead of her lay a large village where the forest fell away, built at the base of a large mountain of orange-brown stone, four faces carved into the rock, looming large as they looked down upon the village. It was quiet but then again it _would_ be, this early in the morning, barely after dawn before even the most ardent shop-keeper rose from their slumber. Rows of houses and shops lined perfectly maintained dirt roads and pathways, thin tendrils of smoke rising from the chimneys of shops and teahouses while a few guard patrols paced along the high walls that ran around the perimeter of the village, the men and women looking exhausted, as if they had stood guard all night.

With a soft huff, the first sound the girl had made since climbing the tree, the slender girl dropped down onto a branch gracelessly and tugged her knapsack over one shoulder, opening it and retrieving a pristine red apple from it's shadowy depths. Mulling over her options, the girl took a bite from the fruit absent-mindedly, her pupil-less silver eyes scanning the front gate of the village, her dainty feet swinging from the branch like a small child. She could circle around the walls of the village, looking for other ways to sneak in, or she could just walk through the front gate.. The latter seemed easier, given the surprisingly lacking amount of security guarding the area. Konoha had gotten soft during such peaceful times. The slender girl sighed with an expression of almost disdain as she chomped into her apple again. This would be too easy.

The girl had come to this village alone, travelling only at night and sleeping during the day, keeping to the shadows as she had ventured to many other Hidden Villages before. With an almost lamentable sigh, the girl tossed the core of her apple aside while she stood up on her branch, smoothing out her hair and clothes before taking a single step forward and letting herself drop from the high branch. As the ground rushed up to meet her, the slender girl moved into a cat-like crouch and forced a pale blue chakra from her hands and feet, using the weak cushion of chakra to absorb the shock from the fall before her hands and feet touched the dew-damp grass and she stood in one fluid motion. Swinging her black canvas knapsack over her shoulder, the girl turned and walked back onto the path, heading towards the village with a perfectly calm demeanor. However, her mind was anything but calm, her eyes scanning her surroundings and her muscles tensed and ready for anything outside of the ordinary to happen. Expecting the unexpected, exactly as she had been trained.

The girl's entire outfit consisted of varying shades of black. Loose black shorts made out of a light fabric that gathered in a bell-like shape just below her knees, a half-sleeved black dress that sat low on her shoulders and hung down to about mid-thigh, a pair of black bracelets made out of some kind of polished stone like onyx and black thong sandals. Her long black hair hung down to her hips, swaying with her movements and the gentle breeze, her messy bangs partially covering her youthful, impish face. The only thing about the girl that wasn't black was her pale, pupil-less silver eyes, perfectly white skin and the clean white linen bandages that wrapped around her calves and hands up to her wrists, more bandages wrapped around her neck. She was perfectly monochrome, as if no amount of color could stain her black and white image.

As the girl approached the massive green gates, she noticed a small wooden booth to her left, standing a few feet inside the gate with two men sitting inside it. Guards. They looked tired and bored, their eyes shadowed from exhaustion and the girl fought a heavy sigh as she casually reached into the pocket of her shorts and retrieved a wooden travel pass, lifting it up just enough to cover most of her face, her thumb covering the name at the same time. It had been stolen, of course, but these two men probably wouldn't care to look very closely in their sleep-deprived state and she was right. As she had expected, the two men waved her through, one of them smiling sleepily as the other wrote something down on a checklist of some kind. This village kept records of it's visitors. The girl mentally facepalmed as she walked into the village and away from the gate, disappearing around a corner. Of course, a village of this size _would_ keep records like that! She just hoped that those two guards were too tired to have clearly seen her face.

And now came the hard part. Finding a place to lay low while she stayed in the village. Stuffing her stolen travel pass into her pocket, the slender girl walked deeper into the sleepy village, memorizing everything as she walked and followed her feet to the quietest places she could find. She would need some place secluded, shielded from view and off the beaten path, where she couldn't be easily spotted.. It was too risky to rent an apartment before she had established a proper identity within the village, if she even stayed here for that long before she just moved on again. It wasn't because she didn't have the money, money was never an issue, it was because she belonged to no village, had no past or any records to speak of, her very existence a secret from the world. But that was the way she liked it. Things were much easier that way. It was better to not get too attached to any one place, keep moving, cover her tracks before she was found out, watching and learning new techniques until she was finally strong enough to...

No, it wouldn't do to dwell on such things right now. Shaking the thoughts from her mind, the girl stopped at a fork in the road and examined her surroundings, two paths leading into a wooded area in opposide directions. Raising her nose to the air, the slender girl sniffed a few times before she sighed lamentably, rubbing her nose with one hand, trying to brush away the scent of dogs. There was probably a clan of ninja hound-users in this village, judging by the strength of the scent and that could be trouble if she got too close. Facing the other direction, the girl sniffed again and the scent of fresh water, moist earth, crisp grasses and leaves rushed to greet her and the girl smirked. A forest would be perfect. Taking the right-most fork in the road, the girl walked down the path towards the scent of the forest, away from the smell of dogs as she marveled and her remarkable luck thusfar. Soon, the slender girl left the sparsely-wooded area and came to a stop in a field, looking up at a chain link fence, littered with warnings and do-not-enter signs. Rolling her pupil-less silver eyes, the girl leapt over the fence in one fluid motion, casually strolling into the dark, lush forest as the sun broke it's way through the canopy of grey clouds, the village waking behind her. Perfect timing.

-(o.o)-

Over time, the sky had cleared of clouds and the morning sun had burned away the thin mist and cold dew, chasing away the chill of the mid-spring morning. Konoha had been peaceful and quiet for hours, just as it was every day, the merchants selling their wares, students training while chunins and jonins honed their skills, coming and going from their various missions across the Five Great Nations. However, elsewhere in the village and early that evening, an elderly man sat at his desk in a large, quiet room, papers scattered over the surface in front of him while a thin coil of pale grey smoke rose from the simple pipe he had pinched between his teeth. The setting sun could be seen through the row of large windows behind him, the village tinted orange with it's light as the man read from the official-looking papers before him, looking exhausted from a long day of paperwork.

All of the windows were open and a gentle breeze filtered through the spacious room, carrying with it the scents of fresh tea and ink from the Academy nearby, the sounds of happy children and birds singing reaching the man's ears as a slight smile appeared on his face. He could get used to peace like this. Even though he knew it was likely short-lived, he didn't just just _how_ short-lived his peaceful moment would be until he heard the approaching footsteps from the hallway. With a slight sigh, the man set down the scroll he'd been reading as he listened. Judging from the hurried pace of the footsteps, it was likely something that would indeed bring his peace-laden day to a close. Within a few moments, the footsteps came to a halt in front of the heavy door and an urgent-sounding knock followed.

"Come in." The elderly man called out, his voice retaining every bit of authority his station afforded him despite his age. The door swung open to reveal a much younger man behind it, tanned skin and dark eyes with a scar across his nose, messy brown hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail, wearing the green jacket of a chunin. Immediately, the elderly man's expression relaxed into one of calm curiosity "Iruka, what brings you at this hour? Shouldn't you be going home for the day?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama.. However, I heard something troubling today and I thought I should come to you.." The younger man, Iruka, answered with an apologetic, if slightly worried, smile as he closed the door behind him and walked across the spacious room to stand in front of the elderly man's desk before he continued. "I heard from Kotetsu and Izumo, two chunins that were stationed to guard the main gate all last night.. Apparently, a young girl entered the village using an expired merchant's travel pass around dawn this morning. The troubling thing about this is.. Kotetsu and Izumo swear that the girl couldn't have been older than twelve or thirteen, yet she was alone, didn't say a word, and promptly disappeared without a trace. They thought it was odd so they waited for their shift to end before they walked around the village looking for her.."

"And what did they find?" The Hokage asked, his brows furrowing slightly into a wrinkled frown. A young girl using a merchant's travel pass around dawn? That was odd, to say the least. The elderly man understood now why Iruka chose to come forward, especially if the child was really as young as the two chunins said she was. Iruka was a teacher, after all, and many of his students were around the same age.

"I'm afraid that was the strange part, sir. No one has seen a girl like that in the market or anywhere else in the village." Iruka sighed, his expression falling into a concerned frown, his tone betraying his exhaustion. "Kotetsu and Izumo came to me while I was at the Academy to see if she was one of my students but every one of the Academy's students were accounted for, even from other classes. Before I came here, I asked them if they had found her yet but.. It was as if she just vanished into thin air, like she never existed at all, even though Kotetsu and Izumo both saw her and they left a record of her entering the village. They didn't fall asleep and dream her up, either, both of their descriptions match perfectly."

"Hm.." The Hokage leaned back in his chair for a moment, taking a light puff from his simple pipe as his gaze lowered to the surface of his desk, appearing deep in thought as he absorbed the information that Iruka had just given him. "Very well. I'd like to hear what happened myself, so could you go and fetch Kotetsu and Izumo?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. They're just downstairs." Iruka nodded once and quickly left the room to go and locate the two chunins while the Hokage sighed softly and leaned back in his chair, taking another absent-minded puff from his pipe before he stood and walked to one of the windows, not looking at the figure sitting on the roof just on the other side of the wall, leaning back and reading a book.

"I suppose if you're here, you must not be very busy, hm?" The Hokage chuckled slightly as the figure snapped the book closed and slipped it into a pouch, looking up at the aging man in the window as he surveyed the village with a smile of slight amusement. He had been born and raised in this village, he knew every single person who lived within it and they were like a large family to him.. "A child seems to have stolen away into the village and this news has me somewhat unsettled, to say the least. Why would a child so young be travelling alone and how could she have just disappeared? These things worry me and since you don't seem to have anything better to do, I'm sending you to locate the child. Listen to what Kotetsu and Izumo have to say and report back to me when you learn more."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." A man's voice replied as the door opened behind the elderly man and the Hokage turned to see Iruka returning with the two other chunins in tow.

Over the course of the next half hour, Iruka, Kotetsu, Izumo and the Hokage sat down around the large wooden desk, the elder man listening to the story of the two chunins who'd been guarding the main gate of the village that morning. They hadn't even slept yet, only awake due to sheer willpower and out of worry for the child that seemed to have vanished into thin air like a ghost. After the description of the girl had been given, the Hokage sensed a retreating presence from outside the window, knowing that the man he'd sent to find the child would return soon enough.

-(o.o)-

_A pulse, something like a single heartbeat, reached her ears and she slowly drifted towards something resembling consciousness. Another heartbeat and she was able to feel that she was perfectly weightless, suspended inside some kind of fluid like she was underwater except she could still breathe and the liquid was much too thick to be water. Another heartbeat reached her ears and soon another and another, forming a slow but steady rhythm as a gentle ache formed within her chest as if muscles long unused were being strained. She could feel something covering her face, wrists and ankles, something distinctly foreign and not part of her body as she reflexively brought her knees up to her chest, her movements slow and sluggish through the thick liquid she was trapped inside._

_What was the last thing she could remember?... Nothing. Her mind was completely blank, as if her past, present and future were perfect blackness, deeper than the darkest shadows of a moonless night. Did she have a life before this moment, or was this the moment of her birth? She couldn't know for sure, her mind only slightly aware of the sounds around her. No.. She was sure now, this was her first memory, the moment of her birth and the beginning of her life and no more questions floated through her dazed mind. Her inner voice went perfectly silent once again as she stopped thinking and allowed herself to just feel, feeling everything around her. The shackles around her wrists and ankles, the mask over her face providing her with oxygen, the thick liquid around her and the tiny bubbles that brushed over her body as they rose towards the surface of whatever fluid she was suspended within._

_Slowly, the ache in her chest began to fade as the girl started to feel more muscles tensing and retracting almost systematically, like her body was testing each muscle and joint to see whether she had the full range of motion required of her. Her toes, feet, ankles, knees, hips, torso, fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck.. Finally, after everything had been supposedly deemed acceptable, the girl slowly tried opening her eyes, feeling heavy in the thick, viscious fluid as the color green blinded her. Translucent bright green was all around her and her eyes adjusted to it agonizingly slowly before she could see other colors, other shapes, darker shapes, moving nearby. A figure moved closer to the glass in front of her, a face looked at her and she stared back almost automatically._

_All of a sudden, red began to color her world, leaking into the bright green fluid all around her until that was the only color she could see. The girl felt her eyes widen slightly as the world suddenly sharpened to a frightening clarity, even the smallest details appearing obvious to her eyes as she looked around, taking in the world around her for the first time. She was suspended inside some kind of a tank or large tube, the now-red liquid slowly draining through a series of pipes while a filthy, skinny old man in a white coat stood on the other side of the glass. A darker figure stood behind the man, this one catching her attention more simply because of how perfectly still he was.. He was different from the old man.. He was like her.._

_In one instant, some sort of creature she had never seen before, long and scaled, wrapped itself around the old man's chest and neck, his eyes widening in terror. A second later and the man's neck snapped, his bloodshot eyes bulging out of their sockets as his body went limp and the scaled creature released his body and he dropped to the floor before her. Looking up at the creature, the girl watched as it pulled back into the shadows a few feet away, the darker figure stepping forward. The first thing she saw of him was his eyes, almost glowing in the darkness and glittering with some untold emotion that she was too young to comprehend, a smile appearing on his face as he looked at her almost appraisingly. He was smiling, something she had never seen before but.. It looked easy enough to do.. Slowly, the girl relaxed her posture to mimic his within the tank as the red liquid drained away, the corners of her mouth curling upwards into a perfect copy of the man's expression._

_In that moment, the girl could see a flicker of surprise in the man's eyes, though it was short lived as the rest of the red liquid drained away completely and the girl's expression faded back into blankness as her body dropped into the bottom of the tube, feeling the sensation of gravity for the first time. Almost as soon as she hit the bottom of the tube, the glass pulled open and she felt hands on her, gathering her up as the man looked down at her, so small in his arms as he lifted her. Though, something akin to annoyance flickered in her mind and she managed to force her arms to work, wordlessly pushing away his hands and surprising him further. As the man took a step back, the girl looked down at her body with a determined expression, giving each muscle and joint a twitch as if she were learning which muscles did what._

_After what seemed like forever, the girl's small hand reached up and grasped one of the pipes inside her tank and she tried to pull herself up on her own power. She faltered a few times, her fingers slipping as she fell back and hit her head against the other side of the tube but she never gave up and the man never interfered as he watched her slowly working things out. Finally, when she was on her feet, the girl looked down at herself and almost gave a nod of satisfaction before she looked up at the man, her small foot raising to take a single step out of the tank. The ground outside her tank was cold, hard and slick against her feet but she never slipped again as she watched the man back away, step after step, and she walked towards him until she was completely out of the tank and halfway across the room._

_Finally, the man stopped backing away as he lowered into a crouch, his eyes serious and level with hers as he held out a single hand, his palm flat and facing her. Seemingly understanding, the girl mimicked this and raised her arm as well, her palm towards his as she took another step towards him, her tiny hand pressing against his as she came to a stop. That seemed to be exactly what the man wanted and his smile widened further as he drew his hand away, reaching over to pick something up from a nearby table. The girl watched as the man draped the thin fabric around her head and shoulders and she was surprised by how warm it was as he stood and held his hand down to her again._

_"Come, child. There is much to be done."_

-(o.o)-

A whisper, faint and unintelligible, filtered through Kiyomiko's sleep-addled mind and she rose through the haze of sleep that plagued her mind, her pale silver eyes fluttering open as she sat up, one hand pressing against her temple. Her whole body ached as a mixture of cold and numbness had spread through her because she'd foolishly chosen to lay upon a bed of freezing cold rock. The sound of water echoed all around her and she slowly blinked the world into focus, her eyes adjusting to the perfect blackness that sheltered her, checking her surroundings as she slowly remembered what had happened. Upon arriving in Konoha, Kiyomiko had taken refuge in the quietest, least-disturbed area she could find. A cave behind a waterfal, deep within the fenced-in forest that lay on the outskirts of the village. A faint sigh escaped her lips as she tilted her head side to side, ignoring the pops and snaps her joints made as she stood and stretched, warmth flooding into her limbs once again.

There were some scattered traces that this cave had once been an animal's home, a few old bones with sharp teethmarks left in one corner while the rest of the cave had scratches from what Kiyomiko could only assume came from some very large and very sharp claws. However, whatever it had been was long gone by now, had been gone for a very long time, leaving almost no evidence behind and Kiyomiko smirked slightly at the thought, thinking that she was much the same way as she travelled from place to place before she disappeared like the wind. Once her body was once again at it's best, Kiyomiko turned on her heel and walked over to the curtain of falling water, stepping just within it's reach as the icy water rained down on her from the river above the cave, drenching her completely and waking her further.

"_You are certainly a strange girl._" A voice whispered in her mind and Kiyomiko sighed, stepping out of the waterfall as she backed into the cave, gathering her hair in her delicate hands as she wrung it out on the stone floor before tugging it into a long braid that hung down to the swell of her hips. "_I don't understand why you don't just rent a room. You'd be more comfortable taking a hot bath, wouldn't you? And you'd be able to eat a decent meal like a normal person._"

"_Hai, hai. That's enough from the freeloader._" Kiyomiko drawled mentally as she rested a hand over her chest for a moment, her pale silver eyes losing focus for a second before she blinked. Though, the voice in her head had a point. She was starving. Frowning slightly, Kiyomiko turned and grabbed up her knapsack and swung it onto her bag before she stepped through the waterfall and into the cool night air.

A thin veil of clouds covered the full moon and most of the stars but there was still plenty of light to see by as Kiyomiko stood on a large rock just out of the waterfall's path, scanning her surroundings and listening to her heightened senses. There were a few animals around her, night creatures searching for their meals, but that was about it. No humans. She hadn't been followed. With a nod to herself, Kiyomiko brought her delicate hands to her chest and formed a simple seal, her form disappearing in a cyclone of cold air before she reappeared at the fence where she had entered the forest that morning. Everything was still perfectly silent and Kiyomiko calmly hopped the high fence, landing in the grass on the other side before she started making her way towards the village at the base of the steep hill.

Walking down the hill, Kiyomiko could see dozens of lights from the village, lanterns and candles lit in nearly every window to signify that many of the shops and teahouses were still open for business, a surprisingly large number of people still walking about the village despite the late hour, though given the primary profession within the village, Kiyomiko supposed she shouldn't be too surprised. With a casual pace, Kiyomiko entered the village a few minutes later, her hands stuffed into her pockets and her expression a mask of calm even as she listened to every one of her senses for signs of possible danger. One of the most important things she'd learned about infiltrating Hidden Villages is to act like you know where you're going and that you don't care if anyone sees you. People usually assumed she was just someone else's kid and that she'd been raised in the village, usually leaving her alone after that.

"Hey, kid!"

Of course, there were always exceptions. Kiyomiko's mind froze but her body kept moving casually as she came to a stop a few steps away from some run-down looking ramen stand, turning to look back towards the voice behind her. Keeping her guard up, Kiyomiko looked up to see a tall, middle-aged man wearing casual clothes and a long white apron, a white cap covering his dull, dark brown hair. He had kind eyes but his expression was pinched into a slight frown as if he were studying her while she studied him, both of them just looking at each other for a second.

"Did you need something?" Kiyomiko asked as casually as possible, her hands in her pockets forming a simple cloaking jutsu just in case she needed to make a quick escape. The man lowered in front of her, his eyes level with hers as if he were approaching a normal child before his frowning face cracked into a warm and friendly smile, almost throwing Kiyomiko off-balance with it's suddenness.

"Are you hungry, kid?" The man smiled brightly and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing back at the ramen stand a few feet away. Kiyomiko instantly noticed that the man's hands were worn and weathered from use, he was a ninja, skilled with bladed weapons, but also something else.. He was the chef. "I saw you pass by and thought you could use a meal! You're looking a little pale, to be honest. Are you feeling okay?"

"Um.. Yeah, I'm fine.." Kiyomiko blinked, unable to control her quirked brow as she looked up at the man, his sudden change of demeanor off-setting her before she quickly regained her composure and mustered a friendly smile. Even if it was mostly forced, no one could tell the difference. "I think I'll take you up on your offer, mister. I was just on my way to find somewhere to eat."

The man's smile seem to widen as he quickly stood and beckoned for Kiyomiko to follow, and she did, walking into the ramen stand where she selected one of the barstools sitting at the counter, the one closest to the wall, as the man hurried back behind the counter. Inside, a girl stood with her back turned, leaning over the stove as she kept a careful eye on the pots and pans until the man shoo'd her away with a smile and a wave. The girl had long brown hair, fair skin and large brown eyes, from what Kiyomiko could see. Was she a relative of the possibly-bipolar guy? A daughter perhaps?

"Oh, welcome!" The girl smiled brightly, assuring Kiyomiko that she was the man's daughter right away, as she gathered up a menu and handed it to Kiyomiko while the man waited patiently for an order. Accepting the menu with a polite smile, her pale silver eyes quickly scanned the pages for anything that sounded even remotely appetizing. Ramen.. Chicken ramen, beef ramen, pork ramen, veggie ramen, ramen with egg, ramen with fish.. Too much ramen! "Do you know what you'll be ordering, sweetheart?"

"Um.. I'll have the veggie ramen.." Kiyomiko said in a musing tone as she handed the menu back just as a figure walked into the stand and sat down on the opposite side of the counter. Kiyomiko, remembering her training, didn't turn to look at the newcomer as the girl smiled and nodded, taking back the menu and setting down a glass of water while the middle-aged man started to cook right away. Just as another figure walked into the stand, Kiyomiko slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills, not really paying attention to how much she had in her hand as she set the money on the counter to pay for the food, something distinctly orange sitting down on a barstool next to her. "Here you go. This should cover the meal."

"Whoa, kid! Where did you get so much money..?!" The girl behind the counter gaped at the crumpled bills that Kiyomiko had set down, her pretty brown eyes as huge as dinner pales as the older man turned and nearly dropped the pan he was searing veggies in. Kiyomiko saw from the corner of her eye that the orange thing beside her was apparently a boy about her age and he was looking at her with a curious expression. The other figure, however, was mostly out of her field of view, almost as if it were on purpose, and all Kiyomiko could make out was a head of shockingly silver hair.

"Oh, I've been saving up my allowance." Kiyomiko smiled sweetly as she mentally kicked herself for not having a better system for her money. She'd been saving her money for the last six or so years, since she was seven years old, doing odd jobs and discreet missions for various villages during her travels. Most of the time, she never rented rooms or bought food for herself, choosing instead to fish or gather for her meals and sleep outdoors.. It was safer than being around people. She had to admit, she had a rather... parsimonious lifestyle, but living like this made her harder to track down, which is what she needed right now.

"Must be some allowance.." The girl blinked before she shook her head and seemed to accept Kiyomiko's answer, going about taking the order from the person on the other end of the counter. Unfortunately, Kiyomiko seemed to have attracted the attention of the orange-clad boy sitting next to her, feeling a pair of eyes on her as the boy began to fidget like he wanted to ask her something. Remembering her training, Kiyomiko didn't look at him, instead choosing to closely examine the reflection in the water glass beside her hand. He was short, shorter than she was at least, with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes and seemed to convey his every emotion, not that he even tried to conceal them. Looking to the side, she could see that his hands were worn and calloused from training.. Kunai practice..? Was this kid seriously hoping to be a ninja..?

"Ne, ne.. How come I've never seen you around here before?" The boy asked the question that seemed to be on everyone's mind as he turned in his seat to look directly at Kiyomiko. The chef and his daughter seemed to look over their shoulder, listening in as if they were curious as well, the same with the figure down on the end of the counter who had yet to say a word.

"Hm? Oh, I'm just visiting for a little while." Kiyomiko lied easily, not looking at anything in particular as she took a drink from her glass of water, hoping to ease her nerves and her headache. The smell of cooking food and the bright lighting was beginning to make her dizzy..

"All by yourself? What about your parents?" The boy pressed on, apparently oblivious to Kiyomiko's growing irritation as she seemed to shrink somewhat, feeling as if all eyes were on her, like everyone was looking at her, waiting for her to slip up. "Are you an orphan too?"

"Heh.. Unfortunately, no." Kiyomiko sighed, her voice a barely audible whisper as she lowered her head somewhat, standing up as the boy's eyes followed her, a blissfully ignorant expression on his face as she looked up at the chef with an obviously forced smile now. "You can just give this kid my meal. I'm not feeling well after all. I'm going to go and rest for a while."

"Oh, but miss-!"

Before the chef could stop her, Kiyomiko had already turned on her heel and walked out of the ramen stand, weaving through pedestrians before she walked down a quiet side-street and disappeared into the shadows. Rounding corner after corner, Kiyomiko's movements were perfectly silent as she tried to put some distance between her and those nosy idiots. She'd been questioned like that before, of course, but never on her first day in a new village. It was unsettling, to say the least, the way those people were looking at her. The boy was the exception, of course, he had no idea what was going on but the others.. The chef, his daughter and that other man.. They had been suspicious of her enough to listen in on her answers..

With a sigh, Kiyomiko pushed the thoughts from her mind, dismissing it as paranoia. She'd have to get serious about integrating herself into this village soon, make up a believable cover story, get a place to live, maybe even find work doing odd jobs again.. When Kiyomiko finally came to a stop, she was near a forested area of the village, far from the ramen shack. First things first, find food. Kiyomiko gave a soft sigh as she lifted her nose to the air and sniffed lightly, drawing in the scents of the world around her. Houses, people, campfire, grass, cat.. Food. A sweet scent on the air almost seem to beckon to Kiyomiko's empty stomach and her eyes opened, a bittersweet smile reaching her impish features as she followed the scent towards what looked to be a glass building. A greenhouse, perhaps? From outside, Kiyomiko could see the darkened silhouettes of small trees, potted plants and the scent of fresh fruit and vegetables nearly hypnotized her. She loved fresh fruit more than anything else in the world.

Carefully scanning her surroundings, Kiyomiko's slender form melted into the shadows as she crept over to the door of the greenhouse, picked the lock with a long needle from her hair and let herself inside, making sure that she made no sound as she closed the door behind her, her every movement deft, smooth and well practiced even for a child. Of course, they would be. She had been forced to rely on less favorable methods to survive and theft was one of them. Once she was sure no one was around, Kiyomiko turned and looked around the large greenhouse, a weary smile appearing on her face as she browsed the selection of fruits and vegetables available to her. Apricots, oranges, strawberries, peaches, even some fruits and vegetables that she had never seen before, all of them perfectly ripe! Lucky!

With a rather pleased expression, Kiyomiko tugged open her knapsack as she walked around the large greenhouse, collecting a little bit of everything. Though, out of habit, Kiyomiko only took the smallest fruits and vegetables, the ones that no one would notice were missing, and even then she limited herself to only three of one thing. She may be a thief but she still had a conscience, surprising as that may have been. Scaling one of the trees, Kiyomiko grabbed a small peach from the highest part of the tree before she settled on a branch and relaxed for a little while, taking a bite out of the pale pink fruit and savoring every juicy mouthful. She hadn't eaten in near eighteen hours and even then, it had only been an apple that she'd eaten last.. It was really no wonder she was so skinny, she never knew when she was going to get her next meal.

"_Why didn't you just stay at that restaurant then?_" The voice in her head whispered again and Kiyomiko sighed, rolling her eyes as she took another bite out of her peach, one leg hanging from the branch as she rested her head back against the trunk of the tree. "_You could have eaten the meal you paid for and maybe even rented a room for the night._"

"_You already know the answer to that. It was too dangerous._" Kiyomiko replied mentally, her pale, pupil-less silver eyes losing focus as she ate the peach slowly, looking as if she were spacing out. One hand was holding the half-eaten peach while Kiyomiko's other hand was rested on her chest, just over her heart, as her brows furrowed into a slight frown. "_I couldn't take the risk that someone might find out who I am. You're the one that wanted to get away from.. him.. just as much as I did. Or would you rather go back?_"

"_I never said that and you know I don't want to go back. Even if I did, which I don't, I couldn't go without you._" The voice answered and Kiyomiko smirked slightly, hearing the slightly exhausted tone in her mind. _"Oh, don't look so amused. Don't forget, we've been together since you were an infant. I know all your secrets._"

"_And that's supposed to bother me?_" Kiymiko quipped dryly as she blinked, ending the mental conversation as she wrapped the peach pit in a linen cloth and slipped it into her pocket to dispose of somewhere else, later. She couldn't leave any traces of her presence behind, nothing that someone could use to track her down. Just as Kiyomiko stood up on the branch, she tensed, reflexively sinking deeper into the shadows as a light flicked on somewhere nearby and the sound of slowly shuffling footsteps reached her ears, gradually approaching. She'd stayed in one place too long. Kiyomiko bit her lower lip as she crouched down, her body almost disappearing completely.

"I'm tellin' you, Shikamaru, I know someone's in there!" A young, male voice whined as the footsteps drew closer, Kiyomiko's heightened hearing able to make out two sets of footsteps, one lighter than the other. The lighter one seemed to be shuffling a little more, as if they were dragging their feet. Through the leaves of the peach tree, Kiyomiko could see two figures approaching the door to the greenhouse, one was tall and lean and the other was shorter and robust, both of them male. "You know I have very keen senses when it comes to food.."

"Hai, hai. I believe you, Chouji. It's probably just Kiba and Akamaru being dolts again." The other boy drawled with a sigh, sounding unbelievably bored as the two figures reached the glass door and opened it, walking into the greenhouse together. Both boys appeared to be about her age, maybe a little older, both of them wearing pajamas and looking sleepy, their hair messy and tousled like they'd just woken up. "Where's the light switch?"

"Over here.." The pudgy boy, Chouji, responded and Kiyomiko's heart almost stopped. The leaves on the tree she was hiding in were almost painfully thin. Shadow was about the only thing keeping her hidden! Gritting her teeth, Kiyomiko silently snapped off a sharp-looking twig from a branch beside her and narrowed her pale silver eyes, watching the boy lead her to her target. There! With a flick of her wrist, the twig was sent flying at near lightning speed, striking the light switch and jamming itself between the lever and the plate so the switch wouldn't move, a tiny spark jumping outwards with a soft pop, causing Chouji to jump back. "Eep! Shikamaru, what was that?!"

"Alright.. So maybe it's not Kiba and Akamaru.." The skinny boy stated as his dark eyes narrowed, scanning through the shadows with a calculating expression before his eyes came to rest on the tree that Kiyomiko was hiding in, as if he'd just figured out where she was. Something felt.. out of place, as if the boy was looking right at her. "Chouji, get behind me."

"Nn." Chouji nodded and shuffled behind Shikamaru as Kiyomiko narrowed her eyes on the skinny boy. He was planning something, even though she had claimed darkness over the field in an attempt to remain hidden. Was he going to back out of the greenhouse, to go and find someone? Or something else..? It was his move now but Kiyomiko's mind was already working at a fast pace, plotting out a route of escape as she waited for an opportunity to move. It was like a game, each side evaluating the situation and plotting out the best possible course of action as the silence stretched on for what seemed like forever.

"Heh. Alright, whoever you are. Come on out." Shikamaru called out into the darkness, his sharp-looking eyes locked on the peach tree, causing Kiyomiko to tense. "It's obvious that you're here and you don't want to be seen. I can tell that some of these fruits are missing, so I'm guessing you just wanted some food, right?"

Kiyomiko kept still and silent, watching as Shikamaru crept closer and closer with Chouji quietly shuffling behind him. If she stayed where she was, they would find her. If she dropped from the tree, she would be seen. If she jumped from one tree to the next, they would hear her. She was cornered! But.. There was one place that she hadn't looked for an escape route. Up. Looking up at the ceiling, Kiyomiko's pupil-less silver eyes frantically searched until they froze on an open skylight, probably used for ventilation, just barely large enough for someone of her small size to fit through. Perfect!

"Shikamaru.. Maybe we should just go and get my dad.." Chouji suggested, a slight waver in his voice as he looked around, almost jumping at every shadow. Shikamaru was steadily approaching the peach tree and Kiyomiko gathered her strength into her legs as she prepared for the jump, her eyes locked on the only available gateway to her freedom. She could jump out of that open pane and make a run for it, back to the forest. If she was fast enough, maybe they wouldn't even see her! This could work!

Just then, a twig snapped beneath Shikamaru's foot and Kiyomiko sprung into action, releasing the tension from her muscles as she jumped upwards, crashing through the branches towards the open skylight. Below her, she could hear Chouji's startled squeak and she felt bad for frightening the boy but she needed to get away without being seen! Just as she reached the ceiling and her hands gripped the metal frame around the skylight, Kiyomiko felt something wrap around her ankle, attempting to pull her back down. Looking down for a split second, she could see a coil of darkness around her ankle and her eyes widened as she dangled there, tracing the coil of blackness from her ankle to the tree to Shikamaru's feet in the blink of an eye.

"Shit! A Shadow user!" Kiyomiko hissed as she clung to the metal frame, using all her strength to yank her ankle upwards in an attempt to pull free. She had made a mistake, the darkness had not been to her advantage but to Shikamaru's instead. She hadn't known that there were shadow users in this village. However, Shikamaru may have been a shadow user but he was young and she could feel the strength of the jutsu waning. One good tug and she could get free! Tensing her muscles, Kiyomiko brought her legs in an upwards swing but just as she was about to break free, the jutsu evaporated, freeing her ankle. She was using too much force now! Almost in slow motion, Kiyomiko's feet swung upwards and kicked the metal frame of the greenhouse. The large panes of glass that made up the roof around her cracked and shattered from the force of her kick.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji cried, his eyes wide as jagged shards of glass began to fall. Almost as if time had slowed, Kiyomiko saw Shikamaru directly below her, in the path of the falling glass, his eyes wide with the realization of what just happened. He didn't have time to get out of the way and Chouji was in the damage path too, frozen and looking up with a terrified expression.

"_Watch out!_" Kiyomiko shouted. Everything was a blur as Kiyomiko made a split second decision, letting herself drop from the frame of the skylight, her weight causing her to fall faster than the shards of glass, landing directly on top of Shikamaru. Just before the glass hit, she was able to shove Chouji back, out of the way of the glass before she crouched down on all fours to shield Shikamaru from the falling glass. She heard his breath hitch in his throat as she curled an arm above his head to protect him, squeezing her eyes closed as she heard the twinkling of the falling glass all around her. A sudden cold sting formed on the back of her thigh and she flinched, biting her lower lip as the searing pain followed but Kiyomiko never made a sound until only silence remained.

A few moments passed like that, the silence stretching on for minutes that felt like hours while Kiyomiko listened, hearing Shikamaru's breathing and heartbeat beneath her, strong and steady, as she slowly opened her eyes. In the commotion of the falling glass, the leather cord that had bound Kiyomiko's hair had been cut and her thick locks cascaded over her shoulders like a curtain of ink black silk threads, darker than the deepest shadows of a moonless night as it pooled across the floor around Shikamaru. The boy was looking up at her with wide eyes, shocked by what had just happened as if he was still processing the information while Kiyomiko quickly regained her composure, just in time to hear a nearby door slam and more lights flicker on, worried voices approaching.

"Tch! You should have just let me go!" Kiyomiko growled down at Shikamaru, ignoring the pain that shot up her leg as she forced herself to stand, feeling more superficial scratches across her body as the shattered glass crunched beneath her feet. Her pupil-less silver eyes quickly scanning her surroundings, Kiyomiko saw that Chouji was sitting nearby, perfectly unscathed if not just as shocked as Shikamaru. Kiyomiko's knapsack had been slashed to ribbons during the commotion and now it's contents were spread all over the ground and another, heavier set of footsteps were quickly approaching. An adult! She didn't have time to stick around to gather up her things and in one fluid motion, she brought her hands up to her chest and formed a seal with her fingers, her body disappearing in a whirlwind of cold air.

For a split second, everything was perfectly silent and Shikamaru slowly sat up, looking around the greenhouse in disbelief. The falling glass had almost completely destroyed the fruit trees and potted vegetables, slicing up the plants and leaves until only bare sticks remained. Only he and Chouji were unharmed in the destruction and he just didn't understand.. Chouji's mysterious fruit thief hadn't been a troublesome classmate or some random animal but a girl he'd never seen before and what's more is that she had.. _saved_ them from harm when she could have easily escaped.. He had never seen anyone move so fast before but she hadn't been fast enough to avoid harm herself. Looking down at the concrete floor, Shikamaru could see a few drops of blood near his leg, mingled with the remains of the girl's knapsack and her scattered belongings. Suddenly, he realized. She hadn't tried to avoid the damage, she'd taken it.. She'd shielded him from harm and judging by the look of her knapsack.. He could have been killed..

"Chouji! Shikamaru!" Shikamaru blinked when he heard the worried voice of Chouji's father nearby and he quickly stood up, hurriedly collecting the girl's belongings together and hiding them in a stack of empty pots. Chouji seemed to get the idea and stood as well, helping Shikamaru dump a handful of dirt over the speckles of blood before both boys stood upright just as the door to the greenhouse opened. This had not been what the boys had been expecting when Shikamaru had agreed to stay the night at Chouji's house but even after everything, the girl had protected them and gotten wounded in the process. It was the least they could do to protect her in return.

Neither of them noticed the adult-sized shadow lingering just outside the greenhouse, listening to their every word.

-(o.o)-

"Shit!" Kiyomiko growled low under her breath before she let out another long and colorful string of curses that could have made the most hardened men raise an eyebrow, yanking yet another sliver of glass from the back of her thigh. She had left the two boys back at the greenhouse, leaving behind her knapsack and everything she had once owned, choosing to abandon it all as she disappeared with a massive body flicker jutsu that sent her sailing towards the forest at a nearly unbearable speed, her wounded leg screaming in agony the entire time.

Now that she was back in the cave, she allowed herself to show the pain she was feeling, letting the mask slip away as she bit her lower lip and blinked back tears, dropping yet another shard of glass into the pile, her fingers soaked with her own blood. The damage was minor but she still wouldn't be able to put much strain on the muscle, at least for the few days it took her to heal. Luckily for her, she kept the spare bandages wrapped around her calves and hands and not in her knapsack. Biting back another growl, Kiyomiko leaned forward and unravelled the bandages from her calves before she stood, resting her weight on her uninjured leg as she pulled off her shorts and her dress, carefully draping them over a nearby rock.

Keeping pressure on the wound, Kiyomiko shuffled towards the waterfall with her free hand on the wall of the cave for support. The freezing water would clean and numb the wound on her thigh as well as the tiny scratches and cuts she had across her body and the blasted sun was beginning to rise now, meaning she couldn't walk around as freely as she could before. No, she would clean the wounds, use a minor healing jutsu and rest. She could go out and look for herbs later and besides, she hadn't eaten more than an apple and a peach in the last two days. All of this insanity would make her collapse if she wasn't careful. For now, she would rest and regain her energy. She was done for the night.

Kiyomiko never stopped shuffling forward until she stood directly beneath the waterfall, ignoring the sharp chill as she stood beneath the icy cold water pounding against her wounded skin, letting the water clean her until she couldn't feel her fingers or toes. Once she was satisfied that she was sufficiantly numb, Kiyomiko stepped back from the waterfall and walked back into the dark cave towards the bandages. Propping her leg up on a nearby rock, Kiyomiko deftly bandaged her thigh, biting her lower lip when a jolt of pain shot through her as she tightened the bandages further. Taking a deep and shaking breath to steady herself, Kiyomiko relaxed slowly, one hand hovering over the wound on the back of her leg as a dim green glow formed around her fingertips, slightly pulsing and flickering like a firefly until it became steady.

Relief came slowly and even then, she didn't have the strength to keep up the healing jutsu for long but at least it was something. Maybe now she would be able to get something remotely resembling sleep without worrying about the pain. Once she was satisfied, the glow faded from her fingertips and Kiyomiko reached over to grab her clothes, returning to the waterfall just long enough to rinse out her dress and shorts so the blood washed out and the water ran clean again. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko hung up her shorts so they would dry overnight and wrung out her dress as much as possible before she tugged it over her head, the damp fabric clinging to her already damp skin as she tugged it in place, attempting to retain at least some shred of modesty as she tried to make the best of this situation.

Walking around the small cave, Kiyomiko located a small collection of dried roots and a few sickly-looking branches, tossing them into a pile in the center of the cave, arranging them in a conveniently placed dip in the stone floor. From what little remained of her belongings, Kiyomiko had been able to save a small wooden box of matches and she grabbed it now, using one of the driest matches she could find to light the pathetic excuse for a campfire, a tiny coil of smoke rising up through a hole in the ceiling of the cave. It wasn't much, actually it was pretty depressing, but it was something and that was all she could do for now. Carefully, Kiyomiko laid down on the cleanest part of the floor, laying on her stomach as she curled one arm under her head, her pale silver eyes staring into the flickering flames of the miserable excuse for a campfire.

For now, she would ignore her discomfort, ignore the cold, and wait for sleep to claim her, praying that the nightmares wouldn't return again. She would regain her strength and in the morning, she would use another minor healing jutsu on her leg before she ventured out into the forest for food and herbs. This forest had to have at least _something_ edible, all forests did somewhere. Slowly, Kiyomiko allowed her eyes to close, slipping off into a dream that she wouldn't remember.

-(o.o)-

During that same day, three boys and a dog sat in an open grassy field near the edge of the village, after having snuck out of afternoon classes once again. Shikamaru and Chouji sat beneath a tree while Kiba sat across from them, his little white dog, Akamaru, perched atop the feral-looking boy's head. The sun was shining brightly, a gentle breeze rolling through the ankle-high grass and the temperature was warm and easy-going, white fluffy clouds floating across the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful morning, though Shikamaru was uncharacteristically tense.

"So, what you're telling me is.." Kiba began, an eyebrow quirked as he looked over at Shikamaru with his arms folded across his chest. "Some weird girl you've never seen before broke into Chouji's family greenhouse last night and you want my help to track her down?"

"Pretty much." Shikamaru replied with a sigh as he stretched his arms up and knit his fingers together behind his head, leaning up against the tree trunk behind him. "It's a well-known fact that you and Akamaru have the sharpest noses in the whole Academy. Besides, she was wounded trying to protect us and left her pack behind when Chouji's dad came outside to see what happened. You should be able to get her scent from her stuff, and don't think you're doing this for free either. There's something in it for you if you help us find her."

"Oh?" Kiba and Akamaru's ears perked up at this, the black haired boy looking over at Shikamaru with mild interest as another gentle breeze rolled by, rustling the leaves in the large tree above them. "And what's that?"

"I'll take over your shifts at your sister's animal clinic for a week." Shikamaru answered matter-of-factly and Kiba's eyes widened slightly as the bored-looking boy looked over at Chouji. "Do you want to help out too?"

"Hmmm.. I like animals, so I don't see why not." Chouji said thoughtfully before he nodded in agreement, a kind smile brightening his features. "I'll help out too!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Kiba shouted as he jumped up from the grass with a lop-sided grin formed on his face, nearly startling Shikamaru and Chouji, Akamaru barking in agreement from atop the boy's head. "Let's go find this mystery girl of yours!"

"Keep your voice down, Kiba-kun!" Chouji hushed as he stood up, casting an almost worried glance around while Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Kiba's antics, hauling himself to his feet and dusting off his clothes. "We have to keep this a secret, okay? She might get into trouble if someone found out! I mean, my parents aren't really mad about the greenhouse because they thought it was an animal that messed everything up but.."

"Chouji has a good point." Shikamaru interjected as he turned to look at Chouji and Kiba, folding his arms across his chest. "Judging by the fact that she was stealing food and didn't want to be seen, it's a fair assumption that she snuck into the village somehow and she could get into a great deal of trouble if anyone were to find out. Kiba.. We have to keep this between us, alright?"

"Hey, no worries!" Kiba smirked, giving Shikamaru a thumbs-up, Akamaru nodding in agreement while the boys started walking back towards the village.

"Alright. We should grab a few things before we leave then." Shikamaru said thoughtfully, reaching up to touch his chin while he walked. "I'll tell my family that I'm staying at Chouji's house again, Chouji and Kiba, you should tell your folks that you're staying at my house. I'll get the first-aid kit, Chouji will be in charge of gathering food and water, Kiba and Akamaru will be in charge of getting the camping gear. Let's meet up behind Chouji's house in twenty minutes."

"Right!" Chouji and Kiba nodded in unison and the boys went their separate ways, leaving the grassy field behind as they set out on their journey. None of them noticed that they hadn't been alone when they had discussed their plans. A shadowy figure stood up from the tallest branches of the lone tree in the grassy field, jumping down before the figure split into two, two quick flashes of silver as one figure disappeared towards the heart of the village, the other following after the boys to their destination.

Thirty minutes passed slowly and soon, Shikamaru and Kiba met up behind Chouji's house, only to find that their gentle-natured friend was nowhere in sight. With a sigh, Shikamaru walked up to the house, hearing noises coming from the kitchen, Kiba following behind. Sure enough, Chouji was in the kitchen with a large bag at his feet as he appeared to be packing up nearly every morsel of junk food he could find, another pack already filled with bottles of water. Shikamaru nearly facepalmed, immensely grateful that Chouji's parents were always out during the day, while Kiba snuck off, hiding his laughter behind his hands as he ran out of ear-shot.

"Come on, Chouji. If we don't hurry up, your folks will come home." Shikamaru sighed and patted his friend's shoulder before he knelt down and picked up the bag of water bottles, swinging it over his shoulder with some small difficulty, holding the bag with the first-aid kit in the other hand. "You told your parents that you'll be staying at my house tonight, right?"

"I left a note on the fridge." Chouji nodded with a bright smile as he quickly closed up the pack of food and shrugged it onto his back before shuffling after Shikamaru, Kiba appearing in the doorway.

"I told my mom too. She wants me back at the house by noon tomorrow, though." Kiba said, folding his arms across his chest while he followed after Shikamaru and Chouji towards the roped-off greenhouse. "Anyway, do you have something with that girl's scent on it? I wasn't able to find anything around here on my own."

"Yeah, right here." Shikamaru pulled a scrap of black canvas from his pocket and passed it to Kiba, the black-haired boy taking it carefully. "It's a scrap from her knapsack. I've got everything of her's that I could find.. It's like she kept her whole life with her at all times.. I'm actually kinda surprised she managed to fit so much into such a tiny bag."

"Alright, Akamaru! Let's get a good whiff, okay? We get out of clinic duty if we find this girl!" Kiba grinned up at the little white dog on his head as he held up the scrap of cloth. The little dog sniffed at the fabric for a few seconds before jumping off of Kiba's head and landing in the soft grass. Turning to look over it's shoulder, the small dog barked at the boys and began to follow the scent at a run with the three boys following behind, leaving Chouji's house behind as they traveled through the sun-stained forest, Kiba laughing as they ran. "This sure beats classes at the Academy!"

For almost an hour, the boys chased after the dog, weaving through trees and crossing over rivers and streams, travelling farther and farther away from the village until they reached the top of a steep hill where an old chain link fence came into view. They all came to a stop a few feet away while they caught their breath, Shikamaru looking around at his surroundings before he saw how far they had travelled away from the village. How could a girl have managed to travel so far if she was wounded? And why hadn't he seen any blood along the way? It hadn't rained since he'd seen her last, it had only been a few hours and the weather had been relatively mild the whole day.

"Kiba, can you smell blood?" Shikamaru asked, looking over his shoulder while Chouji plopped down in the grass beside Kiba and Akamaru, both boys chugging down a bottle of water. "That girl got cut sometime last night but I haven't seen any blood on the way here.."

"Yeah, it's pretty faint but I can smell it." Kiba nodded once he'd disconnected himself from his water bottle, pointing towards the fence before he froze. Shikamaru and Chouji followed his gaze, their eyes widening slightly. Warnings and do-not-enter signs littered the twenty-foot-high fence around the dense, dark forest, an obvious chill running down the spines of the three boys as they exchanged an uncertain glance. "Guys.. The scent is coming from in there.. This is the forty-fourth training grounds.."

"You thinking about turning back?" Shikamaru asked, his dark eyes hardening somewhat as if he'd just accepted a challenge, looking betwen Kiba and Chouji. For a moment, Chouji looked nervous before he smiled and stood, shaking his head as he gathered up their belongings. Kiba sighed as he stood, flashing a cocky smirk before Akamaru barked in response. Danger or no, they couldn't let a wounded girl just wander into a jeopardous forest all alone.

"Nah, we're good. Let's go!" Kiba grinned as he and Akamaru started to scale the fence, followed by Shikamaru and Chouji. Each of them had heard of the forty-fourth training grounds, aptly named "The Forest of Death" and how it was used during the Chunin Exams but none of them would turn back now. Not when the sun was beginning to set, darkness beginning to descend, nocturnal creatures rising to hunt for their meals.

As the group walked deeper into the forest, the scent of blood grew stronger, strong enough that at times even Shikamaru thought he could smell it, a sense of unease surrounding them. A shadowy figure silently followed the three boys from a short distance away, keeping an eye on the boys as they trekked through the dangerous forest as quietly as they could, never knowing that the silent figure was behind them, protecting them from the shadows.

-(o.o)-

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko woke with a start, gasping for air as she scrambled for any weapon she could find and moving into a position to defend herself, crouching low as she pressed herself back against the stone wall behind her. Her breath came in quick, shallow pants as she held up a thin, jagged rock, her sharp silver eyes adjusting to the darkness of the cave around her instantly, scanning for any sign of approaching danger. Something had woken her, like an internal alarm when she sensed something out of the ordinary. A mixture of scents had reached her nose while she slept and she'd forced herself awake because of her training, though nothing was out of place around her. The small campfire had burned down to nothing, her clothes were still hanging from the rocks where she'd left them, no one was around.

And then she remembered why she had chosen _this cave_ as a hideout, as opposed to anywhere else. Releasing the breath she'd been holding, Kiyomiko dropped the jagged rock and walked over to where her shorts were hanging from the wall of the cave, feeling particularly stupid as she carefully tugged her loose shorts on over her bandages. She'd chosen this cave in particular because of it's location and the landscape outside. The air current naturally moved into the cave like a vacuum pulling any scents towards it and making it seem like the outside world was closer than it really was and Kiyomiko had decided to use it as a sort of early warning system. It had come in handy after all, the four approaching scents reaching her nose again as she pulled on her sandals, running her fingers through her long black hair so she was at least somewhat presentable.

Walking over to the waterfall, Kiyomiko peered through it and out into the forest as the sun was just setting below the horizon. On the bank of the river, just outside of the forest, Kiyomiko could see the shadowy figures of three boys and a dog, looking around like they were lost and confused... Two of them looked familiar and Kiyomiko facepalmed when she realized. Shikamaru and Chouji, the two boys from the greenhouse. She didn't recognize the third boy but judging by the fact that a little white dog was riding around on his head, she guessed that he was a ninja-hound user, enlisted to track her scent. Kiyomiko sighed heavily as she mentally berated herself for forgetting to mask her scent when she left the village last night but even now, she knew it wouldn't do her any good. After a few moments of thought, Kiyomiko put on a hard face and stepped through the waterfall and out onto a flat rock where she would be seen, her arms folded across her chest and her pupil-less silver eyes narrowed.

"You guys are idiots for following me here, you know." Kiyomiko called to them, her voice just loud enough for them to hear and she almost chuckled when the boys jumped in surprise, gaping at her as if she had just appeared out of thin air. "This forest is dangerous for anyone who doesn't have real combat experience. If you're here for some kind of revenge, you should know that I'm still lethal even if I am unarmed and wounded."

"Oie, Shikamaru, is that your mystery girl?!" The unfamiliar boy asked, pointing up at Kiyomiko with wide eyes, a trace of pink on his cheeks as he blinked a few times. Kiyomiko quirked a brow at that and Shikamaru physically facepalmed while Chouji just looked amused by the whole debacle.

"Yeah, Kiba.. That's her." Shikamaru sighed and began walking towards Kiyomiko, hopping from stone to stone across the river as the other boys followed, making their way to stand before Kiyomiko as she waited for them.

"Though, it looks like she found us instead of the other way around, Kiba-kun." Chouji chuckled good-naturedly as he carefully followed Shikamaru. "Looks like you still have to work at the clinic after all!"

"What?! No way! I got us most of the way here!" Kiba complained loudly as Shikamaru came to a stop in front of Kiyomiko, looking around cautiously as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving the dense forest in perfect darkness. "It's not my fault that she just came out of nowhere!"

"Unless you want to get eaten by a big tiger, I suggest you keep your voice down." Kiyomiko sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, the other two boys stopping around her as well, forming a semi-circle around Kiyomiko with the small waterfall behind her. "There are giant tigers roaming this forest at night. If you really insist on being noisy, let's at least go inside so you don't attract as much attention to yourself. We might want to do that anyway because you've all left your scents everywhere, so you're bound to attract nearby predators, at the very least."

"Wait.. Inside?" Shikamaru quirked a brow as he looked at Kiyomiko with a puzzled expression for a moment, until an expression of dawning realization appeared on his face when his eyes traveled to the waterfall behind her. "You've been living in a cave..? For how long..?"

"Cave..? What cave?" Kiba asked, looking thoroughly confused as Kiyomiko rolled her eyes and just took a step backwards through the waterfall, back into her hideout. A few seconds later, Shikamaru appeared, followed by Chouji and a surprised-looking Kiba. "Whoa! There's a cave behind the waterfall! That's so cool!"

"To answer your question, Shikamaru, I haven't been here that long. This is my third night." Kiyomiko answered as Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba stopped in their tracks at the cave's entrance, all of them blinking as if they were trying to make their eyes adjust faster. Oh, that's right, it was dark. Kiyomiko barely noticed it now. After all, she was used to this.. Sighing, Kiyomiko took a hold of Shikamaru's hand, leading him into the cave and sitting him down on a flat rock before going back for Chouji and Kiba. "Hang on, I'll get a fire going. Just don't expect me to feed you or anything because I didn't exactly drop by the supermarket on my way home."

"Oh, don't worry! We brought food for you instead." Chouji smiled warmly as he, Shikamaru and Kiba each slid off their heavy-looking packs while Kiyomiko quirked a brow for a moment, preparing a small fire near the center of the cave. Within a few seconds, a steady campfire was lit, warmth and light filling the small cave. The boys looked around with wide eyes, inspecting the surprisingly large cave that Kiyomiko had found.

"I brought you a first-aid kit, too." Shikamaru added, pointing to Kiyomiko's leg as she struggled for a second too long when she tried to stand, the slender girl giving a small huff as she folded her arms across her chest, a sour expression on her face while Shikamaru just quirked a brow. "You got hurt when you protected us, didn't you? I saw the blood in the greenhouse. Chouji and I weren't hurt, so that leaves you."

"It's fine." Kiyomiko said shortly, avoiding eye contact as Chouji and Kiba began chatting happily, pulling out a feast of junk food and bottled water from their packs, sitting around the fire while Kiyomiko walked a short distance away to stand a short ways from Shikamaru, her small hand unconsciously reaching up to the bandages loosely wrapped around her neck. "It's not the worst wound I've gotten before, trust me."

"Still, Kiba was able to smell blood all the way back at the fence. That seems serious." Shikamaru pressed on, pulling the large first-aid kit from his pack and setting it on the rock beside him. Kiyomiko was suddenly immensely glad that she had gotten rid of the bloody shards of glass she'd pulled out of her leg before she went to sleep. "Come on.. I can't be in debt to a girl without at least offering to treat her wounds. Let me see it."

"Since you don't look like you're going to drop it, fine." Kiyomiko sighed as she reached up to lightly tug at the waistband of her loose shorts just as Kiba and Chouji looked over, curious. "I already cleaned the wound and bandaged it, so I really don't see the point in-"

"Whoa, whoa! What is she doing?!" Kiba cried, his eyes wide as Kiyomiko paused, looking up with a quirked brow. Kiba looked like he was about to have a heart-attack while Akamaru was covering his eyes with his paws, almost mimicking Chouji. Shikamaru's face had turned bright red, though Kiyomiko could tell that he was fighting to maintain a calm expression.

"What's the problem? He asked to see the wound and it's on the back of my thigh. I can't show it to him with my shorts on and besides, I'm wearing a dress." Kiyomiko sighed as she shook her head, carefully tugging off her shorts anyway, her dress hanging down to about mid-thigh, just enough to maintain some amount of modesty. Once the three boys, and the dog, seemed to realize that she was still decent, Kiyomiko draped her shorts over a rock while she rolled her pupil-less pale silver eyes. "Honestly, you guys are such wimps."

"And you must not spend much time around people." Shikamaru drawled, still looking a little uncomfortable, though he seemed to relax a little, along with Kiba and Chouji, while Kiyomiko allowed Shikamaru to look over the bandaged wound on the back of her thigh. "Yeah, it's good that we found you. These bandages are already soaked through with blood and if we don't put antiseptic on the wound, it'll get infected soon. Though, I'm surprised you managed to take care of it so well.."

"Like I said, I've had worse before but if you're really so insistent I'll take care of it." Kiyomiko drawled as she opened up the first aid kit, quickly locating a needle and a small spool of black silk thread to stitch the wound closed, slightly impressed by the selection of medicines though she didn't show it as she sat down and arched her leg to one side awkwardly.

"And just how do you plan on doing that when the wound is on the _back_ of your thigh?" Shikamaru drawled in a bored tone, an eyebrow quirked as he held out an open palm expectantly, Chouji and Kiba looking up at Kiyomiko and Shikamaru with almost sheepish glances while they munched on their dinner of barbeque-flavored potato chips. "Just let me do it. Lay down on your stomach and hold still. You can take comfort in knowing that I'm good with a needle and thread."

Left with no room to argue, Kiyomiko almost pouted as she handed Shikamaru the needle and thread, laying down on her stomach on a large flat rock as she was bidden, though the sour expression on her face clearly said that she didn't want to be in this situation at all, even as Shikamaru leaned over the first-aid kit, looking for an antiseptic. Thankfully, Kiba and Chouji remained blissfully silent, which seemed to surprise Shikamaru as he found a small bottle of clear liquid, his hand hesitating just before he was going to tip the bottle over the girl's wound. The cut was just a few inches above her knee, no more than five or six inches in length and relatively shallow, the skin only slightly bruised.

"I found some antiseptic but... it'll probably hurt when I pour it on." Shikamaru frowned slightly, looking up to see Kiyomiko's expression as she looked over her shoulder at him, not wanting to cause her further pain. "Will you.. be okay..?"

"I'll be fine." Kiyomiko sighed as she rested her chin on her folded forearms, closing her eyes with a deceptively calm expression, almost as if she were bored, before one eye opened slightly to look back at Shikamaru, a slight touch of amusement to her tone. "Unless you're squeamish."

"Hn. Not even close." Shikamaru smirked slightly as he carefully let a drop of the antiseptic fall onto Kiyomiko's wound as if he were testing her, keeping an eye on her expression as she watched him, the boy pouring a little more of the clear liquid onto the wound until it was coated. By now, Chouji and Kiba were watching the exchange with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, surprise written in their expressions when Kiyomiko didn't even flinch or wince.

"See? You don't have to worry about causing me pain like that." Kiyomiko drawled calmly as she closed her eyes again, turning her face towards the fire almost dismissively as she let Shikamaru tend to her. It wasn't as if Kiyomiko never felt pain, she did, sometimes more intensely than others but she just never let anyone _see_ her pain. Whenever someone was around her, she would sort of shut down that part of her reactions, almost automatically, never showing when she was in pain simply because that's how she had been raised, how she had been trained.

Almost hesitantly, Shikamaru thread the needle, his hand pausing over Kiyomiko's leg as he glanced up at the girl before he frowned slightly, Kiba and Chouji still watching while Shikamaru gently started to stitch up the wound. Kiyomiko could feel it, the careful poke of the tiny needle, the slight pressure of his fingers against her skin, the thread as it was slowly tugged taught, every stitch small and perfectly uniform. An awkward silence seemed to stretch on for a few minutes while Shikamaru worked, seemingly trying to think of something to say as the seconds ticked by, the silence only broken by the crackling of the campfire.

"You don't have to be so afraid of hurting me.." Kiyomiko sighed finally, her pupil-less silvery eyes glittering in the flickering firelight as she looked back over her shoulder at Shikamaru with a knowing expression, the boy pausing as he glanced up at her. "You're very good at this. I don't feel any pain."

"Heh.. Well, I guess that's good. Though, I don't know if it's such a good thing for someone to say that a guy is good at sewing." Shikamaru chuckled slightly, his hands remarkably steady as he reached into the first-aid kit and brought out a tiny pair of scissors to cut the thread. "You know, even after all that's happened, I still don't know anything about you.. Like your name, how old you are, where you came from.. Why you live in a cave.."

"My name is Kiyomiko, I think I'm thirteen this year and I come from a lot of different places though I never stick around for long." Kiyomiko answered casually as she sighed, somewhat surprised that Shikamaru had finished her stitches already even as she sat up and turned, propping herself up on her elbows as she bent her knee, Shikamaru handing her a large roll of clean bandages. It sounded rehearsed, like she was rattling off a grocery list, and it was rehearsed. It was the same general lack of useful information that she gave everyone.

"Wait, you _think_ you're thirteen this year..?" Shikamaru quirked a brow as he watched Kiyomiko wrap the clean bandages around her leg carefully, Kiba and Chouji glancing over while Akamaru slept by the fire, the three boys seeming surprised. "What do you mean? You don't know for sure?"

"Nope." Kiyomiko shook her head as she secured her bandages and handed back what she didn't use, giving a casual shrug as Shikamaru took the little roll of white fabric. It was as if she were completely at ease with the world she lived in, which was so completely different from the world that the three boys knew and that seemed to startle them. "I don't know when I was born, where I was born or how many years passed before.. Well, before I left home. All I know is that five years have passed since I left. It's kind of a touchy subject and more than a little hard to explain."

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Chouji smiled warmly as she shuffled over to sit beside Kiyomiko as the girl sat up, keeping a gentle pressure on her leg as she looked over at the boy beside her, holding out a colorful bag of potato chips. "Do you want something to eat now?"

"Whoa, Chouji.. You're giving someone the first bite of your barbeque chips?" Kiba asked with a slightly surprised chuckle, jokingly reaching over to check if Chouji had a fever while Shikamaru smirked and shook his head while he put away the first-aid kit. "You must really like Kiyo-chan or something, huh?"

"Kiyo-chan?" Kiyomiko repeated with a quirked brow as she picked up her lightweight shorts and slipped them on over her bandages, smoothing her dress down again before she sat down. She'd never been called that before.

"Yeah, it's a nickname. Friends call each other by nicknames sometimes." Kiba explained, seemingly understanding her puzzled expression as Chouji sat back down by the fire, Shikamaru dusting off a place before he sat down and gestured for Kiyomiko to sit as well, and she did, stretching out her bandaged leg as Kiba pressed a bottle of water into one of her hands and Chouji pressed a bag of potato chips into her other. "Why? Don't you like it?"

"No, no, it's not that.." Kiyomiko answered with a slightly puzzled frown, her gaze lowering to the campfire for a moment. "I've just.. never had a nickname before, that's all."

"_None of them good, anyway._"

"Well, then it's settled." Shikamaru smirked, looking much more relaxed than he had all day as he sat back, Chouji and Kiba turning to smile at her as well. "From now on, you're Kiyo-chan."

* * *

Zabuzasgirl and Regin - I know, I know! I'm writing as fast as I can! o_o;

ivyslade, randomtastic7 and Maghands - Lol! There aren't that many reviews because I have a bad habit of writing ten chapters at a time and uploading them all at once. I'm trying to off-set that now by writing one chapter at a time and uploading them as I go. Let's hope I don't burn myself out again. xD

Triple T 123 - Omg, I know, right?! I was in tears when I wrote it! I have a major connection with the character Aria and suffice it to say, when I get to rewriting that chapter, it's going to be even more of a tearjerker. Fair warning!

Random Guest commenter person - Yes, I know my OC is overpowered and yeah, I did kind of replace Naruto as the main character of the story but isn't that what most fanfic writers do? I guess I kind of wanted to tell the story from a different perspective, tell _my_ story from a different point of view while still staying true to the setting. As far as the relationship she has between her teammates, Kiyomiko is a peculiar girl. She prefers to keep people at arm's length and, given her past, that seems wise to her. As far as the growth goes, I've been planning for this story to be well over a hundred chapters long. That may be ambitious on my part but it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, so that leaves plenty of time for growth and relationships along the way. There's no rush! Just kick back, relax and enjoy!


	2. Suspicious Activity

Alright, folks! Here's chapter two, rewritten for your viewing pleasure! Don't forget to leave a review!

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_Kiyomiko woke, her pale silver eyes opening just as she heard a door open and close from somewhere nearby. Father was coming. Almost robotically, the three year old Kiyomiko rolled out of the little cot she slept on, her bare feet touching the dirty stone floor as she stood. Her hair had grown long, hanging around her torso and hips, though it was difficult to manage properly, so she kept it braided. The task of learning how to braid with her small fingers had been tedious, though not impossible. However, she did wish that she had a better dress whenever she met with father.. With a sigh, Kiyomiko looked down at her dress with a look of disdain. The simple dress used to fit her but she'd grown, the fabric used to be white but it was old and dusty now, stained with her own blood, though Father had always been kind enough to heal her before her wounds left a scar and she was grateful to him for that._

_Again, she heard a door open and close, this time closer, and Kiyomiko patiently waited in front of the door, looking up at the point where she knew her father's face would be. It may have seemed odd to some that a three year old could be so still but Kiyomiko never moved a muscle as she waited, as if her whole body had gone on stand-by, her breathing silenced, her heartbeat softened, she didn't even blink. The only explaination for such behavior was that this was just how Kiyomiko worked, the only thing she knew and it seemed to please her father so she just kept doing it. Footsteps approached and Kiyomiko listened, her pupil-less silver eyes widening. There was a snap to the step, perfect heel-to-toe rhythm, not the casual, calm gait of her father. This man wasn't her father!_

_Instantly, fear and anger bloomed within her and Kiyomiko quickly and quietly searched for whatever weapon she could find, understanding the danger even though she was still so young. A minute later, Kiyomiko had found something, a thin and jagged rock she had once used to cut her hair with, and she sunk into the shadows in the corner beside the door just like she'd seen her father do a million times. This time, her heartbeat and her breathing were completely silenced as she waited, hearing the footsteps come to a stop outside her door, the jangle of keys, the heavy lock clicking and then the large wooden door slowly swung open, the hinges letting out a loud squeal that grated on her ears. A tall man slowly walked into her small room, seemingly surprised by the darkness that she preferred, blinking furiously as if he were trying to force his eyes to adjust while he stepped through the threshold and into her domain. He had a kunai drawn._

_Kiyomiko waited, silent and still, until the man had his back turned to her before she crept away from the wall, her tiny bare feet silent against the dirty stone floor as the man came to a stop over her cot. He was looking for her but he was looking in the wrong place. Bringing up her weapon to eye-level, Kiyomiko's tiny hands moved fast, slashing at the inside of the man's thigh, the only part of him she could easily reach with her small height. The man shouted in surprise and pain as his blood leaked out of him and Kiyomiko jumped back, holding up her bloody rock blade before the man whirled. He looked shocked when he saw her, that shock quickly turning to anger, though the anger was short-lived. So was he. He took a single step towards her before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, unable to control his own body anymore because of the vast amount of blood that pooled on the floor and Kiyomiko waited patiently. It would only take a few seconds more anyway. She'd severed the artery in his leg. She knew what that meant._

_As soon as the light drained from the man's eyes, Kiyomiko sprung into action, snatching up his kunai with one hand while she held the bloody rock in the other, relying on all of her senses when she left her tiny room and crept into the hallway. An intruder had come to her room, looking for her, looking to kill her. She needed to find father and make sure that he was alright! Sniffing at the air and listening to the underground world around her, Kiyomiko found a scent and ran after it, her bare feet leaving tiny bloody footprints behind. The sensation she felt was unlike anything she'd ever known, the adrenaline screaming through her veins and the icy cold that trailed down her spine even while her arms and legs were burning from the exertion. This was what she had been born to do, this is why she was the way she was, this is the reason for her existance. To protect father and kill anyone who dared cross him._

_All of a sudden, the narrow walls of the corridor fell away as Kiyomiko ran into a large chamber with rows of columns on either side. She had never seen this room but she acted almost reflexively, ducking into the nearest shadows and away from the flickering light of the candles that hung around the room. With her rock blade and stolen kunai poised, held up to the level of her eyes while she was crouched, Kiyomiko silently and slowly made her way towards the scent she'd been following since she left her tiny room, her bare feet silent across the stone floor. Peering around a pillar, Kiyomiko could see a single figure sitting in a chair at the head of the room, another figure on his knees in front of the chair, pleading and babbling on, spewing apologies while the seated figure just chuckled. Kiyomiko's eyes widened and a smile reached her face when she realized that the seated figure was her father though the smile faded when her eyes lowered to the grovelling man. He had sent that other man to kill her. She understood now._

_Before she even needed to think, Kiyomiko's body was moving on it's own, jumping from shadow to shadow as she gained speed, her tiny feet pattering across the cold stone floor as she ran. Her father looked up immediately but paused when he saw her, her bloody rock blade and stolen kunai raised and ready as she ran towards the kneeling man's back. The man turned, shock and horror in his eyes, before he jumped out of the way and Kiyomiko stopped and turned in one fluid motion, a frustrated growl rumbling through her small body as she changed her grip on her weapons, watching as the man came to a stop a few feet away. He had sent someone to kill her, tried to take away her life when it belonged to her father and now he was begging forgiveness from the wrong person. She would kill him. She would kill him as she had killed the other man except now she didn't have the element of surprise. But she did have one trick up her sleeve. Literally._

_In that moment, Kiyomiko did something unexpected, abandoning her weapons as she tossed them aside, the stolen kunai clattering against the stone floor while the bloody rock blade slid to her father's feet, the girl never taking her eyes off of her opponent. And then she was running, headlong and recklessly running, towards the man as he knelt down in the center of the room and she recognized that gleam of ambition in his eyes. He was planning on killing her even now and she almost smirked. Just as she was about to reach him, Kiyomiko's little body twisted and she veered to one side, using her small stature to her advantage as she dropped into a slide, avoiding his arm as he tried to grab her. A second later and she was on her feet again, behind the man and in that instant, Kiyomiko brought her hand up to touch the back of the man's neck, a triumphant grin appearing on her youthful features. She had won._

_"Jagei Jubaku!"_

_For a split second, time seemed to nearly stop as Kiyomiko felt her father's eyes on her while the man kneeling in front of her froze. Yes. She knew this technique. She had seen her father use it the same day she woke up a year ago and she had memorized it in that one moment. Something beneath the sleeve of her dress twitched, something that wasn't there before and slowly, something unnatural coiled around Kiyomiko's tiny arm and out of her sleeve. It was a tiny snake, perfectly white, it's scales reflecting a near rainbow of colors in the light as it coiled down her hand and around the man's neck obediently, squeezing as tightly as it's little body could before it sunk it's fangs into the man's throat. Kiyomiko's smile widened, no longer triumphant but now one of pride, as if she were proud of her little summon as it's poison seeped into the man's neck directly. And then the little snake returned to her sleeve and time resumed, flowing normally once again while Kiyomiko somersaulted backwards, landing upright ten feet away at a safe distance._

_Kiyomiko's snake may have been small but it's poison worked just as fast as any other and the man's body crumpled to the floor as he wheezed for air, his face turning a strange shade of purple as he clawed at his neck as if he were suffocating. Then his body went perfectly rigid before he went limp, his hands dropping to his sides as his head turned to face Kiyomiko, eyes wide open in death, almost accusingly. Calmly, Kiyomiko walked over to the corpse with a sigh, kneeling down as she tilted the head away and examined the wound that her little snake had made, two tiny puncture marks left behind directly over the man's jugular. To other children, this may have been frightening, to see death so closely, but Kiyomiko was different. Vastly different._

_"Kiyomiko."_

_That one word was enough to snap Kiyomiko out of whatever spell she'd been under and she blinked, her pupil-less pale silver eyes widening as she tore her gaze away from the corpse's neck and turned to look up at her father. He stood up from his chair slowly, walking towards her before he came to a stop before her as she stood and looked up at him, feeling her tiny white snake curling it's way up towards her shoulders and out from beneath the fabric of her dress, coiling around her little throat, clasping the tip of it's own tail in it's mouth like a necklace while it rested there. Her father knelt down in front of her, his fingertips brushing over the little white snake's scales around her neck with an almost surprised expression, as if she had somehow truely shocked him in some way and Kiyomiko felt worry for the first time._

_"Father.. If I did something wrong, I'm sorry.." Kiyomiko said quietly, her little voice wavering as she clasped her hands in front of her, her head lowered slightly as her messy bangs shadowed her eyes. "A man came into my room and tried to kill me a few minutes ago.. I killed him and then followed the scent of the other man to make sure you were alright. I heard him talking and I realized that he sent the first man to try and kill me. I don't know why I got so mad.. I just reacted. Please don't be angry.. I'll clean up the mess I made.."_

_"No, child. I'm not angry. Even without proper training, you were able to kill two fully-grown men with little effort.." Her father said finally, his curled index finger lifting her chin gently to make her look at him and she did, raising her silvery eyes to look up at her father, slight surprise in her gaze. He was smiling down at her. "I'm proud of you and because you did so well, I'm going to start training you now. I want to see just how strong you can become."_

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko slowly returned to consciousness, feeling as if she were rising through the sleep-addled haze that plagued her mind as she slowly became aware of her body once again. She was warm, lying on a hard surface with the smell of a dying campfire in the air, mingled with the scents of various forms of junkfood and the three boys that had fallen asleep sometime during the night, lying on the bedrolls they had brought with them. It had been so long since she had talked so much and even longer since she'd been able to eat her fill without rationing her food, it was such a strange sensation to have a full belly again. She'd spent hours around the fire with her guests, talking about trivial things as she learned more about the village until each of the boys had fallen asleep and Kiyomiko had been left alone to gaze at the flickering flames of the campfire before she too fell asleep.

Slowly, Kiyomiko rolled onto her back and gave a luxurious stretch, warmth spreading throughout her body as she enjoyed a brief moment of laziness, a small sleepy smile crossing over her impish features as she turned her head towards the mouth of the cave to see whether it was day or night, her pupil-less silver eyes slowly fluttering open to look at the curtain of falling water. In that moment, a shadow moved across the waterfall, quickly darting to the side as if someone had been peering through the water and Kiyomiko's training instantly kicked in. Her body moved fluidly, silently as she rolled out of sight and hid within a naturally-formed alcove, shadow covering her as she silenced her breathing. The fire had almost died now, a gentle orange glow slowly flickering out and it would soon be perfectly dark inside the cave and Kiyomiko knew from experience that whoever was skulking around her hideout would make their move then. That's what she would do.

Now that she was fully awake, Kiyomiko could smell their scent, the fresh summer rain and the sweet snap of electricity, their scent filling her nose as Kiyomiko pressed her back against the cold stone and erased her presence completely. It was almost time. One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three, four.. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru were all still sound asleep but their heartbeats weren't what she was listening for. She needed to know how many enemies were outside the cave! She had to know how hard to fight in order to protect-! ...Yes, in order to protect them, the three boys who had foolishly followed after her because they had been worried, despite knowing nothing about her, rushing headlong into a dangerous forest where they could have easily been killed by the wildlife alone, thinking only of her wellbeing. No one had ever thought of her like that.

Closing her eyes and straining her ears, Kiyomiko listened passed the faint crackling of the few remaining embers in the campfire, listened passed the steady stream of falling water, the wind outside.. There it was. A single heartbeat that didn't belong, masked as if someone were trying to hide their presence somewhat. They underestimated her. No surprise there. There was only one person outside the cave, standing as still as she was as if he were listening for any sound of movement, just like she was. For a while, there was nothing, neither of them made a single sound, waiting as the dying embers in the campfire slowly burned themselves out, a tiny plume of smoke rising from each one until the last one finally puffed out. The cave was completely black once again and Kiyomiko smiled. She wouldn't underestimate her attacker like she had underestimated Shikamaru, she knew now that darkness wasn't necessarily to her advantage, so she would protect these three foolish boys and lead her enemy away, confuse him and lose him in the forest before she returned, gathered her belongings and made sure the boys made it back to the village safely before she disappeared again.

That was the plan. As soon as she had finished that thought, a single footstep reached her ears, the sound of the waterfall parting, water falling on cloth as a figure slowly walked into the cave, looking around as if searching for her. _Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly_.. Kiyomiko smirked as she drew in a deep breath, pooling chakra into her breath as she formed a simple sequence of seals before she exhaled as hard as she could. A thick white mist formed on her breath and quickly engulfed the cave, muting all sound and greatly obscuring vision. She could hear the startled shouts of the three boys as they woke and it pained her, knowing that they wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for her and she kept that thought alive as she crept away from her hiding spot and padded out into the cave, carefully sweeping around the intruder as he stood perfectly rigid as if he were shocked. She couldn't make out his features in the mist but she saw his silhouette well enough. He was tall and lean, a full-grown adult, with a shock of messy silver hair and instantly she recognized him. It was the man from that run-down ramen shack.

She didn't have time to dwell on it and her pupil-less silver eyes narrowed as her mind jammed into gear, her delicate hand reaching up, her fingertips lightly brushing over his sleeve. It was a light touch, meant to instill confusion, fear and self-doubt. Had he really felt that or was he just imagining things? She excelled at mind games. Kiyomiko smirked as she stepped back, allowing a single footstep to be heard as the man whirled and she disappeared through the waterfall before he had a chance to grab her. Jumping from rock to rock, Kiyomiko was almost blinded by the bright sunlight of mid-day, the world was so sunny and colorful that she fought to keep her eyes open as she left behind tiny traces of herself on each rock, a wet footprint, while thick clouds of milky white mist billowed out from behind the waterfall. She had spent her entire life hidden in the darkness of night and underground for years, sleeping or hiding in darkness during the day. It was too dangerous to stay out in the open where the sunlight impaired her vision. She needed to get into the forest!

"Kid, wait!" A man's voice called from behind her but Kiyomiko didn't even slow her pace, almost laughing at the lunacy of the command. _Yeah, right. I'll get right on that, bro. I'm just gonna listen to you and stand still while you capture me. Uh huh!_ Not gunna happen. Reaching the riverbank, Kiyomiko dashed into the shadowy forest with her persuer following behind, taking to the trees as she jumped from branch to branch, her speed only increasing despite the twigs and foliage clawing at her skin and clothes. Even for mid-day, the high canopy of thick foliage above her covered the forest in a blanket of shadow that no light could penetrate and the pain in Kiyomiko's eyes slowly abated as the world gained focus again. She was fine.

However, her leg still hurt like hell. Biting back a growl, Kiyomiko kept running, knowing that she was leaving behind a few scattered droplets of blood on the leaves and branches she stepped on, like a trail leading the man right to her, but she didn't care as long as he was still following her. As long as his attention was solely on her, and not on her friends, she didn't care what happened, she would protect them. Keeping an eye on her left, Kiyomiko sniffed the air once and the scent of fresh water reached her, the air slowly changing, the breeze fresh and cool now. She'd found it again. Dropping from the trees, Kiyomiko dashed from the treeline and onto a barren cliff as she skid to a halt, her bare feet kicking up the powdery dust as she stopped a few inches from the edge, turning around to face her persuer in one fluid motion while she crouched on her hands and feet like a cornered animal. She'd found this cliff during her first day in the forest around the village-

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to climb down safely, as the man appeared a few feet out of the treeline a few seconds later and her heart sank. She really was trapped now. The man had his hands up, trying to calm and reassure her that he wouldn't attack, like he was approaching some kind of untamed animal and not a girl and Kiyomiko's silver eyes narrowed. He was wearing the standard uniform of a Konoha jonin, loose black clothing under a green flak jacket, his forehead protector slanted over one eye, a black cloth mask covering the lower half of his face leaving only one eye exposed. No.. This was bad. _Really_ bad. This guy was way out of her league and Kiyomiko wasn't even armed, she had no senbon needles, she had no explosive tags or kunai, she didn't even have a damn rock! She was so screwed if this guy decided to attack in earnest instead of trying to capture her and a low growl of warning rumbled through her as the man took a single step towards her.

"Come on now, kid. You don't have to run from me.." The man said with a calming and friendly tone as he paused but the look in his eyes betrayed his worry as they darted between Kiyomiko and the cliff behind her, the roaring sound of a massive waterfall reaching their ears and nearly drowning out his words as Kiyomiko tensed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Oh, _right_. Like I'm going to believe that. You're not as harmless as you let on. I'm a child and I can see that clearly!" Kiyomiko growled in response, taking in the man's appearance and watching his careful movements, nothing wasted as she slowly stood up, her pale silver eyes almost feral. She was unarmed, cornered and her mind began quickly working on methods of escape. Left? No. Right? No. Under? No way in hell. Forward? Same answer. Back...? Hm. "Those patches on your vest tell your life-story. You're a jonin-rank ninja and an honorable survivor of the Third War. Given your age now, you would have been my age back then. That's quite a feat!"

"You're certainly very smart for being so young, and you're pretty fast!" The man chuckled light-heartedly and rubbed the back of his head with one hand as if he were bashful and Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed as she folded her arms across her chest, standing at her full height in an unconscious attempt to make herself look bigger, tougher, though that failed pretty royally. "I have to say, I'm impressed. I wonder.. Have you had training from another village?"

"Don't patronize me just because I'm younger than you! I know how this kind of thing works and you're not getting any information out of me!" Kiyomiko snapped, shooting the man a glare filled with all the venom she could muster and the man laughed awkwardly, a strange chill forming in the air around her as a gentle breeze traveled up the cliffside behind her, ruffling her long black hair, her pale white skin gleaming like fresh winter's snow in the bright sunlight. After a few moments of silence passed, Kiyomiko sighed faintly as her gaze lowered to the man's feet, lowering her voice slightly. "My friends.. Those boys from the cave.. Are they safe?"

"Your friends..? You mean those boys from the village? Yes, they're fine.. I left a clone with them and they're being escorted back to the village as we speak." The man replied, seeming slightly surprised by her softened demeanor, taking it as a sign that she'd accepted defeat as he slowly stepped towards her again. "Would you mind coming away from the ledge, kid? It's pretty dangerous to stand that close. I promise, we'll just go somewhere to sit down and have a conversation. I could even get you something to eat if you're hungry.."

"Oh, _yeah right_. Do you really think I'm so stupid to fall for something like that? You'd probably just take me back to the village, lock me up in some cell to be interrogated by ANBU." Kiyomiko rolled her eyes as the man came to a dead stop a few feet in front of her, his eyes widening slightly at the tone of her words. That was when an idea struck her. The cliff, with the river below it. It was perfect! Now that she knew her friends were safe, she could escape and leave the village for good. She didn't relish the thought of leaving her belongings behind but she had no choice anymore. A bitter smile touched her impish features as she looked up at the man with a steady silvery gaze, her soft voice deadly calm. "Actually, I think I'll take option B."

"Option B..?" The man tilted his head with a slightly puzzled expression for a few seconds until a look of realization dawned over him, watching as the slender girl raised her arms up on either side of her, her bitter smile turning into one of mischief and triumph as if she'd discovered the winning move to the game that they'd been playing since they'd left the cave. His eyes went wide as he started to run towards her, his hand reaching out for her but it was already too late. Kiyomiko had made up her mind. She was going swimming. "Wait!"

"See ya." Kiyomiko smirked and time seemed to slow as she took a single step backwards onto thin air, letting herself fall backwards, her body disappearing over the cliff. The roar of rushing water from the massive waterfall drowned out all other sounds and the last thing Kiyomiko saw of the man was his expression, the look in his eyes. Shock, disbelief and genuine concern as he reached out to her only to grab at air while he watched her fall. It was a miracle that she didn't hit the jagged rock wall as she fell but with some amazing amount of luck, she made it safely, narrowly missing the massive boulders below as she broke the surface of the water with a mighty splash.

The wind was knocked from her lungs and for a moment, all Kiyomiko could see was stars and blue as she floated there just under the surface of the water, stunned for a few seconds before her mind jammed into gear again and she fought to regain her senses. In a flurry of motion, Kiyomiko swam upwards and broke the surface of the water with a gasp, crawling up on top of the water and resting on it's surface with a steady flow of chakra around her hands and knees as she coughed and spluttered, her long black hair clinging to her body. After a second, Kiyomiko caught her breath and stood, sweeping her hair out of her eyes as she looked up at the cliff she'd just jumped from, her eyes wide as if she couldn't believe she'd survived it. She could only just barely make out the figure of the jonin she'd escaped from, standing stock still as he looked down at her before she just burst into mad laughter, finally acting her age as she held her sides.

"**HA! Let's see you follow me down here!**" Kiyomiko bellowed up to the jonin as loud as she could, laughter and joy in her voice as her words carried over the roar of the waterfall, echoing off of the cliffside. Before he actually had a chance to accept her challenge, Kiyomiko turned and ran along the surface of the river as fast as she could, seeing the village far in the distance. She realized now that she couldn't leave yet. She had to get her things from Chouji's house and say goodbye to the foolish boys that called her friend. Maybe she could return some day and they could meet again but for now.. For now, she needed to rest her leg. She was sure that the shock from the fall had torn her stitches open, and she should do something about her appearance before she tried to enter the village again.

-(o.o)-

She was tired from lack of sleep, running and the sudden crash from the adrenaline high, her leg was screaming with pain from every step she took and she was sure that she'd been leaving blood behind so she'd doubled back three times as she made her way through the sun-stained forests, her eyes burning from too much light. It was hot during the day, hot in the sunlight and Kiyomiko certainly hadn't missed that. The world was a wash of colors, greens and blues and golds and bright whites and it gave her a headache. It would be insanity to enter the village now, suicide even, now that she knew people were looking for her and given the obvious "drowned rat" appearance that she probably had right now.. That would only make her more likely to stand out from a crowd. Bad news if you're trying to lay low. Though the sun was beginning it's descent, signalling mid-afternoon, and she might just be able to sneak into the village at night.. Now she just needed clean clothes and shelter while she waited for the sun to set.

"_There's a farmhouse up ahead._" The voice in her mind whispered, Kiyomiko's pupil-less silver eyes losing focus as she walked almost robotically now, listening to it. "_Remember? When you scouted out the area four days ago, you saw it just to the east of the village, just outside the walls. They could have some clothes there.._"

"_You're right. Let's just hope I'm lucky and that farmhouse doesn't belong to that jonin I just ran from. That would suck._" Kiyomiko sighed mentally as she kept walking, knowing where to go now as she hobbled through the forest as quietly as she could manage, her brows furrowing more and more with each step as she fought the pain that was coursing through her wounded leg. This just sucked on so many levels.

"_Do you want me to heal your leg?_" The voice whispered and Kiyomiko paused, leaning back against the trunk of a tree as she looked down at her leg with a deep frown. "_It would only take a second.._"

"_I know it would.. But.._" Kiyomiko sighed, sweeping a delicate hand through her damp hair as a gentle breeze rustled through the leaves and tall grasses, smelling like sun-warmed fields and woodsmoke. "_If I can't manage a little escape on my own power.. How will I ever get strong enough to kill.. Father? Besides, you're supposed to be my secret, remember? If anyone found out about you, they would try to take you away from me.._"

"_You've grown that fond of me..?_" The whispering voice asked, sounding almost surprised as Kiyomiko allowed a small smile to appear on her weary face, pressing a hand over her heart almost absent-mindedly.

"_You said it yourself the other night, remember? We've been together since I was an infant and you know all of my secrets._" Kiyomiko answered mentally, feeling the comforting chill within her chest as she closed her eyes. "_True, it may not always be by choice, but you've been they only one to stay with me when everyone else has abandoned me. You're the only one I can ever truely trust because I know that you'd never hurt me.. Which is more than I can say for anyone else in the entire world._"

"_That's a very.. depressing sentiment.._" The voice replied with a sigh. "_Though, given the current circumstances, I suppose I can understand your feelings. Well, no matter. You don't have to worry about me, Kiyomiko, while we may not always agree, I'll always be right here, within you._"

"_You don't have to sound so glum about it._" Kiyomiko smirked before she blinked the world back into focus, ending the mental conversation as she looked around at her surroundings. She needed to move before anyone found her and she groaned weakly as she pushed off of the tree and started stumbling through the dense forest underbrush once again, walking towards the smell of woodsmoke and sun-dried herbs. The farmhouse was just up ahead.

Coming to a stop at the treeline, Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed as she half-hid behind a tree trunk, watching the small wooden shack for a moment. She could see an elderly woman sitting in a chair while a small herd of young children ran around playing and a few older children tended to a small garden. Aside from the old woman, Kiyomiko couldn't see any other adults and she frowned slightly. They were orphans. When she was certain that she wouldn't be seen, Kiyomiko circled around to the back of the house where clothes of all sizes and colors were drying on a clothesline. Quickly, she snuck away from the cover that the treeline provided and crept over to the clothes, collecting the only clothes that would fit her before she reached into her pocket and grabbed some soaking wet, crumpled bills, pinning the whole wad to the clothesline. She didn't need that money as much as they did.

Before she was seen, Kiyomiko dashed back into the forest as fast as her wounded leg would allow. When she was a safe distance away from the farmhouse, Kiyomiko found a secluded part of the forest and stripped off her soaked and bloodstained clothes before she tossed it aside. Quickly, she pulled on a pair of sage green pants made out of some light fabric like cotton, the fabric gathering just above her ankles, a wood-brown t-shirt with a sage green stripe running along the shoulders, and a pair of matching wood-brown zip-up sandals that she'd found lying around the clothesline. It was probably the most color she'd worn in the last five years. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko reached up and gently checked to make sure that the bandages around her neck were still in place and they were, still covering every bit of her throat and a slightly bitter expression touched her features. Well, at least she was flat-chested. She looked enough like a boy in these clothes and she might be able to blend in for a little while longer. That was good enough.

Now that she was dressed, Kiyomiko emptied out the pockets of her tattered clothing and collected what little belongings she had left. A box of matches and her stolen travel pass. It wasn't much but she'd worked with less before and she knew that she could manage until she got her things back from Chouji's house. Kneeling down at the base of a nearby tree, Kiyomiko grabbed a sharp-looking rock and started to dig into the soft dirt, tossing her old clothing into the pit and covering it over with the soil and fallen leaves from the forest floor, masking her scent just enough that it would confuse anyone tracking her by scent. That would keep them guessing for a while and Kiyomiko gave a nod before she stood and started walking off towards the village as she dusted the dirt from her new clothes.

The sun was just beginning to set as she reached the edge of the forest, tinting the world with a fiery orange glow as she came to a stop in the shadowy treeline, a soft sigh escaping her as she looked down at the village. She was tired, hungry and in pain and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep somewhere no one would find her. She could see Chouji's house from where she stood, though it was still a fair distance away and it was still too risky to travel into the village right now so Kiyomiko bit her lower lip and folded her arms across her chest with a sour expression, carefully jumping up into the boughs of a nearby tree. Slowly, she leaned back against the trunk and let herself slide into a sit, keeping her injured leg straight while the other draped over the branch and she sighed again in disdain. She really fucked up this time. Resting her head back against the tree trunk behind her, Kiyomiko allowed her eyes to close for a moment since she was hidden within the thick leaves and deep shadows of the old tree. The leaves rustled out a lullaby in the gentle breeze and Kiyomiko slowly started to relax, allowing herself a moment's peace.

Time fell away and Kiyomiko had no idea how long she was sitting there with her eyes closed, the tree gently swaying in the breeze as if it were rocking her to sleep. It was quiet and serene here, if only for the moment, and the sweet scent of spring flowers was nearly intoxicating, causing her to relax further. Almost absent-mindedly, Kiyomiko began to wonder just how much she had missed while she'd been living underground with her father, if she had really been better off living in the darkness as opposed to living in the light. She could disappear with the winds and melt into shadows, yes, but.. What about color? The only colors Kiyomiko knew now were varying shades of grey and the crimson red of blood. What kind of person would she have been if she had led a different life? A normal life? Would she have been born in a peaceful place like Konoha, going to the Academy with Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru? The thought nearly made her laugh. It seemed folly now but.. That wasn't a bad thing..

"I'm impressed by your resourcefulness, young lady." An elderly man chuckled from somewhere nearby and Kiyomiko woke with a start, her pale silver eyes snapping open as she moved into a defendable crouch, one hand brought up to the level of her eyes, fingers curled as if she had a kunai before she realized... she was unarmed. The old man was watching her from below with a quirked brow and a look of amusement in his eyes as Kiyomiko's shoulders slumped in defeat, the slender girl dropping back down onto the branch with a heavy sigh. She had made a stupid rookie mistake. She had fallen asleep. The sun had set and the full moon was high overhead, the village below glittering with the flickering lights of candles and lanterns. "You've managed to evade detection for quite some time.. And on your own, while you were wounded, no less."

"This doesn't really count as being wounded. I've had worse." Kiyomiko sighed, looking down at the elderly man with a sidelong stare as if she were evaluating him. His face was sort of shaped like a monkey but other than that, he looked like a normal old man, wearing white and red robes, his grey hair tufted upwards and a grey tuft of hair pointed downwards from his chin, a simple pipe pinched between his teeth, a gentle orange glow of embers illuminating the knowing expression on his face. He knew she was studying him and he was allowing it. _Great_. Despite the obvious sinking feeling, Kiyomiko remained casual, folding her arms across her chest as she continued with a calm tone. "Besides, this village won't have to worry about me for much longer. I was just waiting for nightfall before I went back for my stuff so I could leave. I don't see the point in sticking around in one place for too long."

"Oh? So you're planning on leaving for another village then?" The old man asked with a knowing tone and Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew something, which meant he had known enough about her to investigate, which meant he held some manner of power and influence within this village. _Craaaap_. The man seemed to be following Kiyomiko's thought-process, noticing that she was more on-edge than before and he just chuckled, holding up a hand reassuringly. He really did look like some old grandpa when he did that but Kiyomiko wasn't going to fall for it. "When the rumors of a child using an expired travel pass reached me, I did a little asking around. I found out that there have been a number of villages nearby with such rumors, stories of a little girl travelling alone, staying for a few days before she disappears. You've been travelling for a long time, haven't you?"

"Long enough to know that everyone has a hidden agenda." Kiyomiko replied somewhat coldly, her silvery gaze never wavering as a breeze rustled the leaves of the tree she was sitting in, an uneven mixture of moonlight and shadow dancing across her face. The old man's eyes seemed to widen slightly as he looked up at her, her long black hair loose and swaying in the breeze like threads of deep shadow. What was that emotion she saw flickering in his eyes? Recognition? No, there was something else, something deeper.. Though, when the wind died away and the shadows once again sheltered her, the man seemed to regain some of his senses and his expression was once again a knowing mask. Strange. "What does a nosy old man like you care, anyway? It's not like I'm anyone special. Just a wanderer."

"Well, one thing most "nosy old men" have in their lives is regret." The man cleared his throat, obviously a little put-off by her slightly callous attitude as he turned to look down at the village, clasping his weathered hands behind his back calmly. "You remind me of someone I once knew, a very long time ago. A student of mine. You look very much like him, in fact. He was a troubled boy.. and I'll admit that I wasn't able to help him as I should have. I've always regretted not being able to save him from himself."

"Alright.. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, so correct me if I'm wrong, but.." Kiyomiko raised an eyebrow as she folded her arms across her chest and leg herself slip from the branch, using her chakra to stick to the underside of the branch so that she hung upside-down beside the old man, her eyes level with his as her shirt slightly bunched up around her navel, her long black hair nearly brushing across the grass below her. "You feel bad for not "saving him from himself".. so you're going to try and "save me", just because I remind you of this former student of yours?.. And what..? You think that helping me will grant you some sort of absolution or something?"

"Oh no, child." The old man chuckled as he puffed on his pipe for a moment, exhaling a thin coil of smoke before he turned to look at the girl, his eyes resting on her face as if he were studying her now that she was a little closer. "Just think of me as a charitable old man. I'll do you a favor by allowing you to stay in the village and you would be doing me a favor by easing my conscience. I can't possibly turn away a wounded child, now can I? Besides, maybe someday you may even come to trust me enough to occasionally confide in me. I would truely like to know more about you."

"Well, I'm glad you find me so intriguing..." Kiyomiko mused, though she was mostly talking to herself, obvious skepticism showing on her impish face as she let herself drop from the branch, landing on her hands before she bent her legs backwards and curled her body upwards, standing upright in one fluid motion. Smoothing her long black hair around her shoulders, Kiyomiko turned to slowly walk around the old man in a circle, not in a threatening manner, just taking in every detail about him as if she were appraising him, judging the worth of his words. "And just who are you to make such decisions and promise such charity? Like I said, everyone has a hidden agenda and judging by the way you keep looking at me, you're no different. What reason do I have to trust your word?"

"Ah, there you are, Hokage-sama." A familiar, friendly voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko visibly tensed, slowly turning to look over her shoulder to see the silver-haired jonin from earlier that day, walking up towards the old man with a calm demeanor, holding a black canvas knapsack in his hand. "I thought you might be here."

"Oh, Kakashi! Good evening! I was just out for a walk and came upon our new friend here.." The old man smiled warmly as the jonin, Kakashi, came to a stop nearby as if they were old friends. Kiyomiko reacted and almost instantly, she was back in the tree, crouched on a low branch, her pale silver eyes sharp and almost glowing out of the shadows. She didn't run, though, she stayed perched upon a branch as the two men blinked for a moment, looking up at her with puzzled expressions.

"Eheheh.. Hi again.." Kakashi gave a nervous chuckle, raising his hand in an awkward wave before he rubbed the back of his head, the old man looking between the two with a quirked brow, amusement plain on his weathered features. Alright, mental checklist. These two guys knew each other, pretty well, judging by their interaction. The jonin's name is Kakashi and that was familiar to her, for some reason. Also, the old guy was the _Hokage_.. Yep, that sounded about right. "I brought your things.. Apparently, the Nara boy had been holding on to them for you. I hear you're quite the survivalist."

"Yes, we were just discussing that, actually." The Hokage mused almost innocently as Kakashi held the knapsack up to the branch that Kiyomiko was perched upon, approaching her like she was some skittish and wayward kitten or something. Biting back a growl of irritation, Kiyomiko grabbed the bag and sat back on the branch, plopping the bag in front of her, though her posture was still rigid and tense, ready to flee at a moment's notice. "Did something happen between you two?"

"He chased me off a cliff." Kiyomiko growled under her breath as the Hokage's brows rose into his receeding hairline, Kakashi giving another nervous laugh as Kiyomiko ignored them both for a moment while she opened the bag and took stock of it's contents. Her kunai, explosive tags, puzzle box, senbon needles, a change of clothes. There was even a little bag of potato chips and a bottle of water that hadn't been there before and Kiyomiko surmised that Chouji had probably slipped it into her bag before Kakashi took it.

Though, that wasn't what she was searching for. There was only one thing in her bag that could never be replaced. Feeling her fingers brush up against metal and paper, Kiyomiko grasped the item gently and pulled it free of the bag, revealing her most prized possession. It was a battle fan made out of a curious black metal, spines polished and sharpened into blades, turning it into a beautiful and deadly weapon. Each spine had a small symbol engraved upon the metal, a crescent moon and a cloud, and the pure white paper held a painting of pale blue and silver swirls like flowing water or a gentle breeze, a little blue butterfly in the center. It was so realistic that it almost seemed to move on the paper and it was the only think that held any real meaning to Kiyomiko.

"Is everything alright, child?" The Hokage's voice reached Kiyomiko's ears and she paused, realizing that both men must have noticed her silence and they were both looking at her as she clutched her fan close. Seemingly remembering herself, Kiyomiko quickly stashed the battle fan back into her knapsack and zipped the bag closed with an air of finality

"Yes, everything is fine." Kiyomiko answered shortly, swinging her knapsack onto her back before she turned and slipped from the low branch, landing on the ground with a flicker of a wince when a jolt of pain shot through her leg. If either of the men noticed it, they didn't say anything and that was probably due to the seriousness and determination of her expression. "So, now that I know who you are and that you have the power to back up your promises.. You still need to answer my earlier question."

"Oh? Which question?" The Hokage feigned innocence, bringing his pipe up to his lips once again, sending a few more puffs of smoke into the air as Kakashi looked between the two of them with a slight curiousity, though he remained silent.

"Why?" Kiyomiko repeated her question as she folded her arms across her chest, her pale silver eyes as sharp as blades as she watched the Hokage's expression _very closely_, waiting for him to give her a reason to run again, any reason why she shouldn't trust him, because she could think of so many in that moment. The Hokage stayed silent for a moment, looking out over the quiet village as he thought over his answer, the flickering lights from the village glittering in the distance like little stars.

"It's because you saved those two boys when they were in danger, instead of running." The Hokage finally replied, turning to face Kiyomiko with a knowing smile. "Because you chose to protect total strangers, risking injury in the process. Because you chose to lead Kakashi away when you thought he was a danger to them, despite being wounded. Because you cared enough about those boys to make sure that they were safe before making your escape. It's because it's obvious that you _care_ about people, despite the false face of disinterest that you seem so fond of. I believe that you would fit in very well here, if you chose to stay."

Kiyomiko's eyes hardened as she lowered her gaze, her delicate hands balling up into fists at her sides while the two men looked at her. She'd been watched the entire time she'd been in Konoha and the realization of that fact stabbed at her like a hot needle of humiliation, feeling the rising heat on her cheeks as she turned away slightly. She'd been so careful! How could she not notice the signs that she was being watched, that she was being followed?! How could she have been so.. _weak_?!.. The thought wormed it's way into her mind and a barely audible growl rumbled from her chest, she knew that both men were watching her, studying her reaction but she didn't care now. She'd been deluding herself this whole time. If she couldn't even successfully infiltrate one village, how was she supposed to get strong enough to someday.. _No! Don't think about him!_

"Hn. To stay here where it's always warm, where everyone is so happy and peaceful, be able to sleep in a bed every night, take a hot shower every morning, not have to worry about scrounging for food or going hungry for a few days.." Kiyomiko sighed quietly, her tone perfectly flat as she relaxed her posture and folded her arms across her chest once again, a gentle breeze ruffling her long black hair as she half turned her head to look at the Hokage again. "That sounds like an awfully sweet deal. Almost too sweet. What's the catch?"

"Well, you'd have to attend classes at the Academy like every other child your age.." The Hokage mused with an expression of feigned thoughtfulness, Kiyomiko's eyes narrowing slightly. "Though you seem to have already been expertly trained as a shinobi, so it would merely be a formality for now. I'd imagine you wouldn't want to raise suspicion, yes? That would be the best way. So, what do you think? Would you like to stay in the village?"

"For now.. I'll stay and we'll see how things go." Kiyomiko answered, turning to face the Hokage as she held out a hand, her normally youthful and impish face colored by a hard and serious expression as if she were making some kind of business deal. A kind smile appeared on the old man's face as he accepted Kiyomiko's hand in his, shaking it. There was no turning back now and Kiyomiko sighed as she turned to look back down at the village that had just become her home, however temporarily. They had no idea what they were in for.

-(o.o)-

The next morning, Kiyomiko woke with a start, her pale silver eyes wide as she held a kunai at the ready, holding her breath before she slowly began to recognize her surroundings. She was in Konoha, in her apartment, in her bedroom. Slowly, Kiyomiko let out the breath she'd been holding and sunk back down onto the bed, dropping her kunai beside her as she dropped her head into her hands, her long black hair spilling around her shoulders and obscuring her face. It was going to take a while before she got used to this place. Last night had been a whirlwind of activity, the Hokage and Kakashi whisking her away into the village and procuring her an apartment, some sparse furniture, clothes, food and all the things she'd need while she was attending classes at the Academy. The Hokage had even deemed her a small fortune for a weekly allowance.

Looking around her apartment, Kiyomiko sighed again. It was on the top floor of an apartment complex with only four rooms and a large balcony. She had a bedroom, a bathroom, her own kitchen and a modest sitting area near the door. It was simple enough and rather spartan, though she was fine with that, she didn't have much in the way of furniture and the walls were painted a dusty white with white-curtained windows facing east and south, so there was always way too much light. From her balcony, she could see over half the village and the Academy and Hospital were only three blocks away in either direction. One good thing about the apartment was that it was on the top floor and the roof above her was perfectly flat, so she could sneak away and lounge on the roof when she wanted to be alone, though she could still just run off into the forest nearby anyway.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Kiyomiko rolled out of bed and padded into the bathroom, quickly bathing before she returned to her bedroom a few minutes later as she towelled her long black hair dry. She had agreed to stay in Konoha and as such, she was expected to play the role of a normal girl, attending the ninja Academy and pretend like she was actually learning something. Opening the small closet, Kiyomiko looked around with an appraising eye. A few outfits hung on simple wire hangers, along with a built-in shelf for the tools of her trade. Shuriken, kunai, smoke bombs, spools of wire strings, an abundant supply of explosive tags and one of her favorites, senbon needles. Remembering that she was on a time schedule, Kiyomiko grabbed the first outfit she could reach and collected a decent assortment of weapons into her black canvas knapsack to bring with her to the Academy. She also slipped her fan into her pack, knowing she would feel naked without it. Being unarmed always made her nervous and the way this village handled their students with kid-gloves would probably annoy her to death.

Dropping her knapsack onto the foot of her bed, Kiyomiko stood in front of the full length mirror on the back of the closet door while she dressed. Picking up her extra bandages, Kiyomiko sat on the foot of the bed and began to wrap them around her calves, completely covering her skin from ankle to knee, before she did the same for her neck, from collarbone to jaw, her fingers lingering over her neck for a split second longer before she quickly stood. After that, she pulled on a thin white yukata that hung down to her knees, with dramatically oversized sleeves like a furisode kimono, deftly tying the wide sash around her waist before slipping her dainty feet into a pair of geta made out of pale-colored wood, probably pine. After all that, Kiyomiko quickly brushed out her ink-black hair and let it hang loose around her shoulders and back, the glossy strands gleaming like silk in the morning light. Swinging her knapsack over one shoulder, Kiyomiko sighed, looking at her appearance one last time. She was as ready as she would ever be. It was time to play the innocent school-girl.

Walking out onto her balcony, Kiyomiko hopped up onto the railing with a bored expression, pausing on the metal fencing just long enough to give the rising sun the finger before she looked down at the four story drop into the shadowed alley beside her apartment building. Hm.. Would a normal Academy student survive this? Probably not. Did she care? Not particularly. With a sigh, Kiyomiko let herself drop, leaning into a crouching position as the ground rushed up to meet her, using a weak pulse of chakra to absorb the shock from the fall before she stood upright, the pulse of chakra dispersing into the air like a gust of wind, walking out of the shadowy alley like she'd just done the most natural thing in the world.

It was still early, classes at the Academy didn't start for another three hours at least and Kiyomiko sighed as she walked down the dirt road, her geta giving a monotone click with every step she took. For now, she would go to one of the training grounds that she'd seen a few days ago, one specifically for Chunin and Jonin and she would observe from a distance as she always did. Her pale silver eyes hardened as she turned and started walking towards her destination and within a few minutes, she was there, the thin morning fog curling through the sparsely wooded area, dew clinging to the leaves and grasses as a stream bubbled and trickled over smooth stones nearby. It was beautiful but Kiyomiko was on edge, her footsteps silent even though she still wore her geta, her presence completely masked as she quickly located a tall tree and jumped into it.

Once she was settled upon a branch and sufficiantly hidden within the shadows, Kiyomiko reached into her knapsack and retrieved a thin strip of fabric. It was something like a blindfold made out of a perfectly black cloth, though the material was thin and loosely-woven enough that Kiyomiko could still see through it when she wore it over her eyes and no one else could see through it unless they were close enough. Tying the blindfold over her pale silver eyes, Kiyomiko smoothed the fabric over her face before she closed her eyes and took a steadying breath, listening to all of her senses before she relaxed some and opened her blood red eyes, the sudden change in color perfectly hidden behind the thin black fabric. She had to keep this a secret and she wasn't going to take any chances now. Her life depended on keeping this secret hidden from all.

Just as the morning mist began to burn away, Kiyomiko turned, hearing the voices of two men approaching and she cringed when she saw them. One of them was a tall man with black hair cropped into a bowl-cut, wearing a green jumpsuit and a green combat vest with orange weighted legwarmers. She knew they were weighted because she could smell the lead from her perch in the tree forty feet away. He was rather annoying, going on and on about a challenge, however he wasn't the only reason why she was cringing. Walking beside him, looking rather sleepy and disinterested, was Kakashi, a dark circle under his visible eye and his shoulders slumped as if he hadn't gotten any sleep since he and the Hokage had left Kiyomiko at her new apartment last night. _Great.. I just can't escape him.. Well, if I can't escape him, I may as well watch him train and figure out his weaknesses._

"Fine, fine.." Kakashi sighed, coming to a stop in the field near Kiyomiko's tree and she saw the bowl-cut man give a triumphant grin, both men turning to face each other with suddenly serious expressions. Kiyomiko could see the tension, and she waited, her sharp eyes locked on their figures as they stood in the dew-slicked grass, memorizing every movement and holding her breath as Kakashi brought up one hand. "Rock-paper-scissors."

_...Are these guys idiots..?_

Kiyomiko blinked for a moment, watching as the green-clad man heartily accepted Kakashi's challenge at.. _rock-paper-scissors_.. only to get beaten a second later. They kept going like this, best two-out-of-three, three-out-of-four, on and on while Kiyomiko just dropped her head into her hands. This.. was just beyond strange. She had honestly expected them to start sparring! Sitting back on her branch with a silent huff, Kiyomiko looked up at the clouds overhead and started wondering whether it was too late to find a different village to infiltrate. Kirigakure was nice in the spring, so was Takigakure and she wondered what Sunagakure would be like during this time of year. Just then, Kiyomiko heard a distant explosion from somewhere in the training grounds, followed by the steady thunks and thuds of dozens of kunai hitting against trees and she quirked a brow before she started to turn.

"_Watch out!_"

Kiyomiko's eyes landed on the single sharp, glimmering point of a kunai as it sailed towards her at an almost frightening speed and time seemed to slow as her eyes narrowed and her hand raised to catch it._ No! Don't catch it, you're supposed to be a normal girl, remember?!_ Kiyomiko faltered before she switched gears and slid backwards on the branch, watching as the kunai narrowly missed her by an inch or two before embedding itself deeply into a branch behind her while she fell. Before she hit the ground, Kiyomiko instinctively used her chakra to stick to the underside of the branch, holding her skirt in place with a greatly annoyed expression. That was about the time that Kiyomiko looked over the field and saw that Kakashi and his green-clad friend were running towards her, though Kakashi faltered, his eyes locking on hers almost as if he could see.. _No!_ Instantly, Kiyomiko closed her eyes and let herself drop from the branch, hoping that it had all happened too fast to make sense as she reached up and tore off the blindfold, stowing it in her sleeve.

"Are you alright, little girl?!" Kiyomiko opened her pale silver eyes and looked up to see the green-clad man kneeling in front of her as she sat in the dew-slicked grass, a worried look in his eyes as he easily picked her up and set her on her feet. Kiyomiko went perfectly rigid when she felt his hands on her but she didn't fight back as he looked her over. "I guess my shouting startled you, but it was a good thing! That kunai nearly hit you!"

"You don't have to fawn over me like some grandmother.." Kiyomiko sighed as she batted the man's hands away like a cat, hearing Kakashi's approaching footsteps pause for a moment before a chuckle reached her ears. She chose to ignore it, sweeping a lock of ink-black hair from her face and dusting the bits of grass from her yukata. "I'm fine, really."

"You sure you didn't hurt your leg?" Kakashi interjected as he came to a stop beside her, kneeling down and pointing to her leg as Kiyomiko paused. He was pretending like they hadn't met before, probably for her sake. The green-clad man looked between her and Kakashi with some amount of confusion while Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're favoring your left leg over your right."

"I'm fine." Kiyomiko said again, this time a little harder before she sighed and folded her arms across her chest. It was true, though. The fall had hurt her leg again. She'd used a minor healing jutsu on it before she went to sleep but again, luck hadn't been on her side. Well, at least she wasn't bleeding again. "I just landed on it wrong, that's all."

"Hm.. Come to think of it, what's a little kid doing in this training area, anyway? This area is for Chunin and Jonin only.. Academy students and Genin have their own training grounds on the other side of the village.." The green-clad man mused, reaching up to touch his chin as if he were thinking, something that _clearly_ wasn't his strong suit, and Kiyomiko paled a shade. A beaming smile suddenly broke over the man's face as he plopped a large hang on Kiyomiko's head, ruffling her hair as if he suddenly understood. "Ahh! I see now, you heard the rumors that I was here and you snuck in to watch me train, didn't you?!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't even know who you are." Kiyomiko replied curtly as she slapped the man's hand away, his beaming smile turning into a comical pout as she turned away, a sour expression on her impish face as she folded her arms across her chest. Almost instantly, she thought up a half-way convincing lie and it rolled off her tongue as easily as if she were telling the truth. "I was on my way to the Academy early and I got lost, so I thought I would be able to see where it was if I climbed a tree. I had just found it when you shouted and scared me and I slipped off the branch, that's all."

"You were on your way to the Academy around dawn..?" Kakashi asked dryly, clearly not buying her story as his green-clad friend quickly recovered from her jab at his pride. This was bad. She needed to get out of here before they kept asking questions, got too close to the shadow of the truth.

"It's my first day and I didn't want to be late." Kiyomiko grumbled as if she were saying something she didn't want to admit. Better they thought she was secretly looking forward to going to the Academy than know the truth, that she was spying on them in the hopes of learning their techniques. That kind of thing never went over well, no matter what village she was in. "Well, thanks for making me fall out of a tree, I guess. I'm gunna go."

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and stalked off through the dew-slick ankle-high grass, walking at a normal child's speed. It annoyed her greatly, how slow she was moving, but she couldn't just use a body flicker technique because that would just raise further suspicion. Biting back a growl, Kiyomiko left the two men behind her as she disappeared into the treeline, walking back towards the village as the sun steadily rose higher. She had about two hours before she had to be at the Academy. When she was certain that she hadn't been followed, Kiyomiko drew her hands to to the level of her chest and formed a simple seal with her delicate fingers, her body soon disappearing in a cyclone of freezing air before she reappeared in the darkened alley beside her apartment. That had been far too close.

Resting a hand against the stone wall at her side, Kiyomiko leaned down and gently brushed her free hand over the wound on her leg. It hurt, yes, but it wasn't bleeding. It hadn't split open and that was a good sign. Closing her eyes, a gentle flow of pale green chakra flowed from her fingertips and the pain in her leg slowly began to fade until it tapered off into nothing. It wasn't completely healed but it was enough to make it through the day if she was careful. Standing upright again, Kiyomiko swayed slightly as a wave of dizziness washed over her and she quickly steadied herself, a flicker of surprise on her features before she realized. She hadn't eaten in over twenty-four hours, not since Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba brought her food two nights ago.

Using up that last little bit of chakra had weakened her enough that she'd nearly stumbled. She needed to find some food. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko forced herself steady as she left the alleyway, ignoring the nagging weakness she felt in her legs as she walked towards the bustling marketplace on the main road of the village. Dozens of shops and teahouses were already opening in preparation for the day ahead and Kiyomiko walked down the road as calmly as she could manage, browsing each vendor's wares. Fruits, vegetables, fresh fish, herbs and medicines, this market had anything anyone could ever want and more, and Kiyomiko followed her nose towards the only thing she wanted. Walking up to the nearest dried goods vendor, Kiyomiko quickly located a modest-sized bag of dried peaches and paid for it, leaving the shop in a personal record of two minutes.

Walking back towards the Academy, Kiyomiko tore open the bag and immediately popped one of the dried peace slices into her mouth, giving a soft sigh of relief as she started to feel a little better. Granted, it probably seemed strange to remain so restrained, especially when she was starving but Kiyomiko lived by a strict code. Anything that could be considered a weakness _must_ be hidden from the world, lest it be used against her. She never even trained where she could possibly be seen, out of the fear that someone could learn her techniques and use them against her later. A bit hypocritical, considering she did the same thing in almost every village she'd visited, but there it was.

By the time she had almost reached the end of the market road, Kiyomiko had already eaten half of the bag of dried peach slices and she was looking around almost absent-mindedly, deep in thought as she walked. However, just as she was about to round a corner and head towards the Academy, which was just four blocks away, she ran headlong into something large, red and white, blocking her vision before she fell backwards onto her behind and dropped her breakfast, dried peach slices scattered in the dirt around her. Pain shot through her leg like a jolt of electricity and Kiyomiko let out a soft hiss as she gripped her thigh, tears burning in her eyes as she fought to keep quiet. She had come close to reopening her wounds. She was really beginning to hate this village.

"Oh, _gomen, ojouchan!_" A man's voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko looked up to see a large hand in front of her, offering to help her up. Looking passed the hand, she saw it's owner, a middle-aged man with long, spiky white hair, dark eyes and red lines painted on his face, a rediculous-looking horned helmet-thing tied to his forehead, the character for "Oil" painted onto it. With a soft sigh, she took his hand and he pulled her up, using the back of her free hand to quickly wipe the tears from her eyes and standing still until the pain in her leg subsided some."Oh, no! Please don't tell me I made you cry! I couldn't live with myself for making such an adorable little girl cry! Here, I'll buy you some candy! How does that sound?!"

"Oh, _do_ stop talking." Kiyomiko hissed somewhat, sounding remarkably like her father before she caught herself and averted her gaze, brushing her messy bangs away from her face, the man almost instantly falling back as he stopped fawning over her, gawking at her for a moment, disbelief clear in his features.. But there was something else as well, something hidden in his wide eyes, something emotion she'd seen in the Hokage's gaze last night.. Recognition. Ignoring it, Kiyomiko gave a soft sigh as she turned and parted the skirt of her yukata, revealing the thin white shorts she wore beneath it, trying to check the bandages on her leg with a frown. "Can you see if I'm bleeding or not? It feels like I ripped my stitches.."

"Bleeding..? Stitches..? Oh! Your leg!" The man seemed dazed for a second before he shook himself out of whatever trance he'd been in as he knelt down to carefully examine the bandages on Kiyomiko's leg, looking for any signs of blood on the thin white linen wrapped around her thigh. Kiyomiko sighed with annoyance and cursed her terrible luck as she went perfectly rigid, feeling the man's hesitant hands trailing over the fabric, as if he were just as uneasy as she was in this situation. At least that gave her some small amount of comfort. "No, I don't see any blood but you should probably get it looked at, just in case. This is a pretty bad cut.. What happened?"

"I lost a sparring match with a rather foul-tempered window." Kiyomiko drawled sardonically as the man stood and tilted his head with a slightly puzzled expression, watching as she rolled her eyes and started to pick up the remains of her breakfast, tossing it into the nearby wastebin, her irritation growing by the minute. She'd only been able to eat half of the small bag of dried peach slices, barely enough to regain her energy but at least she could sit down and rest when she got to the Academy. "Anyway, thanks for knocking me over, I guess. I have to get to the Academy so I'm not late on my first day. See ya."

"Oh, well I'll walk you there!" The man smiled and Kiyomiko mentally facepalmed. This was _really_ getting annoying! What was with this village and the touchy-feely, friendly attitude?! It was infuriating! As Kiyomiko started walking towards the Academy, trying desperately not to walk with a limp, the man easy caught up to her and walked beside her, his geta clicking alongside hers in a steady rhythm as she brushed the dust from her white yukata. She could feel his eyes on her, studying her and she bit the inside of her lower lip to keep silent, her expression a mask of half-calm as she tried to walk as steadily as possible but the pain kept her from walking as fast as she normally would. "Here, let me help you. It's the least I can do!"

"Wait, what?!" Before Kiyomiko could get away, the white-haired man reached down and scooped her up into his arms as easily as if she were a doll, _carrying her_ as if she were some terribly fragile thing, adding plenty of insult to her injury. With a remarkable ease, the man quickly walked up the side of a building and onto the roof and soon he was jumping from rooftop to rooftop towards the Academy with Kiyomiko struggling to get away the whole time.

About a block away from the Academy, Kiyomiko had finally had enough and something within her snapped, her infamous temper kicking in. In a flash of movement, Kiyomiko jabbed at a pressure point on the man's neck, causing him to suddenly stop moving, the abrupt lack of momentum making him nearly drop her. Before she hit the ground, Kiyomiko twisted and kicked off of his stomach, sending her slender body sailing high into the air, the long sleeves of her yukata and her ink-black hair fluttering in the breeze before she landed primly on her uninjured leg about fifteen feet away, her geta making a single, delicate click on the flat, concrete tile roof.

"**What the **_**hell**_** makes you think that you can just **_**pick me up**_**?!**" Kiyomiko bellowed at the man, her pale silver eyes reflecting every bit of irritation and anger she felt as she hobbled over towards him, the man looking completely dumbfounded. Granted, she was a little pipsqueak of a girl, short and slender, but when she got angry, she got _loud_ and right now she was _livid_. With one quick motion, she hit another pressure point on the man's neck, releasing him from his paralysis and he was suddenly able to move again, dropping to one knee as he spluttered and coughed for breath. "Next time, _ask_ before you just _pick someone up like a sack of potatos_!"

With a low growl of annoyance, Kiyomiko turned on her heel and started walking towards the edge of the roof, forcing herself to walk normally, standing tall and proud as she stopped on the ledge and looked back at the man with a sharp glare. Once again, the temperature around her dropped somewhat, seemingly responding to her anger as the man looked up at her with a shocked expression, quickly regaining his breath as hauling himself to his feet before he took a few steps towards her, seemingly understanding what she was going to do next. He was underestimating her and that just annoyed her more, her pride getting the better of her as she stepped back, standing right on the edge of the flat roof.

"You owe me a bag of dried peaches! The really expensive kind!" Kiyomiko shouted, barely realizing that dropping from the roof of a five-story building wasn't normal for an Academy student before she took a step off of the ledge and dropped through the air, leaning into a crouch as the ground rushed up to meet her, using another weak pulse of chakra to cushion her and absorb the damage from the fall, dismissing it as soon as her feet touched the ground. The chakra disappated like a gust of cold air as she turned to look up at the man on the ledge above her, looking down at her with that dopey, condescending face of his and Kiyomiko growled, knowing full-well that her voice would echo through the empty alleyway up to him. "_**JERK!**_"

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and stalked out of the alleyway, feeling a little better now that she had vented as she walked out of the shadows and into the light, making a beeline for the Academy. Granted, she hadn't planned on venting like that on a complete and total stranger but he was asking for it by picking her up like that. If there was anything Kiyomiko hated, it was being picked up, carried around and fawned over like she couldn't take care of herself. She could barely stand it when people _touched_ her! Well, whatever. It was over now and she'd probably never see that man again and that was perfectly fine. She didn't have time to waste on grabby people like him. Pulling herself from her thoughts, Kiyomiko stalked into the Academy, her expression relaxing into one of boredom and disinterest before she attracted any more attention.

-(o.o)-

Around the middle of the day, Kiyomiko found herself standing in a pathetic excuse for a training yard behind the Academy with all of her classmates lined up and chattering happily. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, and even that orange-clad kid she'd met in that ramen shack, Naruto, had been surprised to see her and they'd been even more surprised when their teacher, Iruka, had announced that she was a new student. That had been particularly shocking to the entire class, considering they were all a week away from graduation. Now, however, Kiyomiko was alone, standing at the end of the line as student after student stepped up to test their abilities by lobbing kunai or shuriken at one of three small stumps, large targets painted over the weathered bark. Iruka stood a short distance away, standing beside a long wooden table with two worn cardboard boxes, each containing old and battered kunai or shuriken that looked nearly ancient. White lines of chalk powder had been left in the dirt where students would stand to practice.

"Alright, class!" Iruka called out cheerfully, the students standing in groups of twos and threes falling silent as they turned to look at their teacher. Iruka held a clipboard in one hand and a battered kunai in the other and Kiyomiko eyed it almost mournfully, thinking that the poor thing should just be melted down to put it out of it's misery already. "I'd like to test everyone's capabilities with thrown weapons today, to see how hard you've all been practicing. And _yes_, to answer your questions, this _will_ affect your grade!"

There was a collective groan from most of the class and Iruka chuckled, holding up his clipboard while all of the students looked around at each other, some looking apprehensive while others looked cocky and self-assured. Kiyomiko could tell by their postures and their hands that they were all mediocre at best. It was almost painful to watch. Kiyomiko had mastered thrown weapons by the time she was five years old, when most of these kids had just started attending classes at the Academy. Then again, she did have a rather.. _unconventional_ teacher. Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes darkened somewhat as she forcefully pushed the thought from her mind.

"Kiyomiko, since you're new, why don't you go first?" Iruka's voice called Kiyomiko from her thoughts and she turned automatically, not looking at him as she walked passed the students and came to a stop at the white chalk line. All eyes were on her and Kiyomiko ignored them as if she had a wall of pure ice seperating her from reality, as if she couldn't hear the whispers behind her back. "You don't have to push yourself, now. Let's just see what you can-"

Iruka was interrupted by three loud _thwacks_ of kunai stabbing into the trunks and everything went perfectly silent as everyone turned to look. Three identical serrated kunai stuck out of the wood, jammed into the targets, dead-center. Iruka hadn't even seen her move because he'd been looking down at his clipboard and her expression plainly said that she was bored, even as she calmly walked up to the stumps and retrieved her custom kunai without saying a word. Once again standing at the white chalk line, Kiyomiko waited until Iruka was actually watching before she held the three kunai in one hand and whipped them at the targets with one fluid motion. Again, they all hit their targets dead-center. It hadn't been a fluke.

Ignoring all of the stunned faces of her classmates and Iruka, Kiyomiko gathered up her jagged kunai and returned them to their hiding place in her flowing sleeves before she stepped away from the targets and started walking towards where she had been standing before. She knew by the total silence that they were all shocked but something made her hesitate, there were eyes on her that weren't shocked but calculating, evaluating, and she looked up. They were a pair of coal black eyes, belonging to a boy with spiky black hair and fair skin, wearing a dark blue short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and baggy white shorts, white armbands covering his forearms. Kiyomiko kept her face completely black as the two of them stared at each other for a moment, the boy's eyes seeming.. familiar, too familiar to be a coincidence, especially with the cocky, arrogant way that he was looking at her, like he was trying to read her.

"Uh oh, it looks like the Uchiha has a rival!"

For a fraction of a second, Kiyomiko's pupil-less pale silver eyes widened. _Uchiha? No.. It was common knowledge that the Uchiha clan had been wiped out years ago, killed off by one of their own! It wasn't possible!_ As soon as that fraction of a second ended, Kiyomiko regained her steely expression but the boy must have noticed something, his dark eyes narrowing on her. No, this boy was an Uchiha after all. She could see it now. The resemblence. Just then, he took a single step forward, looking like he was about to speak when Kiyomiko sharply turned and walked away. It would look less suspicious if it seemed like she'd just dissed him, brushed him off like she didn't care. At least she hoped so. For now, she could use the assumed rivalry as a cover while she avoided him like the plague. It was too dangerous to be around him..

After the tests were over, the students were led back into their classroom and Iruka handed out their grades on the thrown-weapons test. Not surprisingly, Kiyomiko recieved a perfect grade and when the Uchiha boy recieved a perfect grade as well, he glanced over his shoulder to see that Kiyomiko was sitting in the back of the class, staring out the window as if she were bored out of her mind. And she was. Though, Kiyomiko knew that evasion tactics that simple wouldn't work forever. When classes at the Academy ended, Kiyomiko quickly stood and swung her black canvas knapsack over her shoulder, slipping out the door and out of the school before anyone even had a chance to stop her.

Almost immediately upon reaching the outside world, she felt eyes on her and she frowned inwardly, her casual pace never faltering as she walked. She was being followed again, though she couldn't tell who it was. It couldn't be that Uchiha kid, this was too perfect. Kakashi? Maybe.. Well, then... She'd better make whoever it was work for the information they so desperately sought! With a slight smirk, Kiyomiko walked into a teahouse near her apartment and immediately stepped into the women's restroom, locking herself inside while she was alone. A second later, there were four soft pops from inside before five identical girls left the bathroom. One girl left through a tiny window that led into an alley, another left through the back door, another through the front door, the fourth one stayed and ordered some tea while the fifth had mysteriously disappeared in the pandemonium.

No one suspected the sweet and feeble-looking little boy with the messy chestnut brown hair and the sparkling green eyes that seemed to smile at everything he saw. Inwardly, Kiyomiko smirked to herself as she walked out into the late afternoon sunlight in her disguise, seeing a figure standing on a rooftop from the corner of her vision, looking around at the chaos she had caused with a tensed and confused posture. They had seriously underestimated her abilities and she had a feeling that would be the last time she'd be able to use that trick safely. Making her way down the street, Kiyomiko quickly stepped into the alley beside her apartment building, pulsing chakra into her feet as she ran up the side of the building and came to rest upon the railing of her balcony just as her transformation wore off with a soft pop.

A mischievous smirk played on her impish features as her long black hair swayed in the warm spring breeze, the village below colored by the orange glow of sunset as Kiyomiko allowed her clones to disappear one by one. Pausing for a moment, she allowed herself to view their memories and she sighed, slightly disappointed. The figure that all of her clones had seen had disappeared shortly after she did, apparently understanding that her little diversion had been a get-away tactic, alerting her persuer that she knew she was being followed. None of her clones had been able to get close enough to see who it was, though she knew by the silhouette that it was male. With a sigh, Kiyomiko slipped off of the railing and walked into her apartment. It was time to prepare for tomorrow and the many fiascos that she could sense coming.

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Ivyslade - Holy crap, comment spam! xD I can't even reply to all of that!


	3. Hidden Strength

Here's the rewritten chapter three!

* * *

Five days later, Kiyomiko sat on the railing of her balcony with an absent-minded smile, heavy winds whipping through the trees and scattering cherry petals like snowflakes while lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the sky. Thick grey storm clouds hung low overhead and darkness had descended upon the village even though it was only eight o'clock in the morning. Kiyomiko especially loved weather like this, the raw power and energy that a thunderstorm like this gave off at any given moment was intoxicating and her smile widened when lightning streaked across the sky, splitting the ceiling of dark grey like a large crack in smoky glass. The heady perfume of spring flowers mingled with the scent of the coming rain and Kiyomiko stood up on the railing, balancing on one foot with an impish smile.

She was wearing a pair of black shorts made out of a light and flexible fabric, a black v-neck shirt made out of the same material with cropped sleeves, black fingerless gloves and black ankle-high, zip-up shinobi sandals. Her fingernails and toenails were painted black and her pale silver eyes were lined with charcoal, smudged over her lids to give her a shadowed look. Her long black hair whipped in the heavy wind as she paced back and forth across the railing like an acrobat on a tightrope, humming softly as her tone betrayed her amusement and a touch of something wicked, coy and mischievous. She knew she was being watched, she had felt eyes on her for the last five days, and she had been careful about what she had let her observers see of her. This was probably the first time since arriving in Konoha that she had decided to let the mask slip ever so slightly, revealing her true nature, if only for a few moments.

A small shift in the air pressure and temperature warned her of the coming rain and Kiyomiko turned on the railing, reaching back and closing the sliding glass door to her apartment a single second before the rain started to pour down upon the village in sheets. Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rolled overhead as Kiyomiko smirked, dropping from her balcony and into the alleyway below as she always did, her chakra kicking up a small dust cloud that was quickly put to rest by the pouring rain as her feet touched the ground. Walking out of the alley, Kiyomiko started off towards the Academy as she watched the villagers running around as they tried to take shelter, some with umbrellas while others hid beneath awnings and roofs of the shops and teahouses along the way. Some of them whispered about her, others called out to her, offering her an umbrella or something of that nature and Kiyomiko just waved them off dismissively, wearing a smile so perfect that no one could tell it was fake. _Weaklings. Letting a little water stop them from getting things done.._

"You know, you really should carry an umbrella in weather like this." A familiar voice said from behind her and Kiyomiko paused as a shadow appeared over her head and the rain stopped falling on her. She knew that voice, that arrogant and self-assured tone, she'd been taking great pains to avoid it for the last five days. He'd finally found out where she lived and he'd been waiting for her. Leaving a slight smirk on her face, Kiyomiko wiped her wet bangs out of her eyes as she half-turned to look over her shoulder at the boy who held an umbrella over her head. Uchiha Sasuke. "You don't want to get sick, do you?"

"I'm actually rather proud of the fact that I've never gotten sick in my life." Kiyomiko drawled lightly, folding her arms over her chest as she started walking again, her expression relaxing into one of subtle indifference and disinterest as Sasuke started following, sharing the umbrella as they walked towards the Academy, Kiyomiko moving at her own pace in the hopes that Sasuke would just give up and leave her alone. "Did you need something, or are you just hoping that I'll scare away your obsessive stalker fan-club?"

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Sasuke asked, his dark eyes narrowing on Kiyomiko for any traces of an answer, a waver, some emotion beyond indifference. There were none. _So, he's figured it out, huh?_ Kiyomiko sighed inwardly, her mind working to think up some way to make him ignore her again. "You've been dodging me since you entered our class last week."

"And what makes you so special that I need a reason to avoid you?" Kiyomiko asked, her voice perfectly cool and calm as she cast a sideways stare at Sasuke with her silvery eyes betraying no amount of emotion as she came to a stop outside the gate to the Academy. For an instant, Sasuke seemed a little taken aback before his expression changed to annoyance, as if he were irritated by Kiyomiko's perfectly calm demeanor even while she was insulting him. From the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko could see a pack of girls approaching and a fox-like smile appeared on her impish face, catching Sasuke off-guard as she took a step too close, suddenly looking surprisingly girlish. "Or.. Are you asking because you're confused when a girl wants nothing to do with you?"

"That's not-!" Sasuke tried to defend himself as a tint of pink appeared on his cheeks but Kiyomiko quickly cut him off with a mischievous smirk and a light chuckle.

"No no, I get it now. You're used to getting _so_ much attention, every girl in class fawning all over you just because you look half-way decent and you're not too shabby with lobbing a couple kunai around. I understand it now. Well.. Sorry to burst your bubble, _Sasuke-kun_, but I'm not that shallow." Kiyomiko's smirk widened into a coy smile as she leaned in a little closer, tilting her head in a very feminine manner as she whispered his name against his ear as if she'd just issued some kind of challenge and she heard his breath hitch in his throat. With a sly smile, Kiyomiko took a step back and turned, chuckling at the expressions on her shocked classmates' faces as the girls began squawking with indignant anger, which Kiyomiko cut off with a laugh. "Don't worry. Your precious _Sasuke-kun_ is just fine. I want _nothing_ to do with him."

With that, Kiyomiko turned and walked towards the Academy, leaving Sasuke and his umbrella in the rain as the girls began to swarm around him, their voices melding together as they tried to console him or something, like Kiyomiko had been some manner of soul-sucking creature. She actually laughed at that thought as she stepped into the Academy, tugging her soaked hair over her shoulder and wringing the water from it before heading down the long corridor towards her classroom. She was actually in a remarkably good mood today and that toying with Sasuke's mind had only added to that. That had been enough, Sasuke would get the idea that she wanted nothing to do with him and what did it matter if one girl didn't like him, anyway? It was better this way. If he thought she hated him, he would stay away and her secret would be safe.

As soon as Kiyomiko opened the sliding door to her classroom, lightning flashed across the sky and the lights flickered as thunder rattled the windows. A pair of girls in the classroom squealed in fear as Kiyomiko walked in, an eyebrow quirked casually as she closed the door behind her, smirking at the girls as they clung to each other, staring at her in disbelief. She probably looked like something fished out of a river at this point, her long black hair soaked and clinging to her torso as she trickled water all over the already wet floor, her perfectly white skin shimmering in the flickering lights. Yeah, she probably looked like a ghost or something. _Awesome!_

"Do I really look that frightening?" Kiyomiko smirked as she folded her arms across her chest, seeing Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Naruto gaping at her as she turned, shaking her head while she walked towards the back of the classroom to claim her usual seat near the window.

"Kiyomiko! What happened, didn't you have an umbrella?!" Iruka gaped, his brown eyes wide as he watched Kiyomiko sit down calmly. The door slid open again and Sasuke and his entourage walked in just in time to hear the question as the group filed in. Sasuke turned to glance up at Kiyomiko as she gathered her long black hair back, his eyes narrowing on the bandages around her neck as she braided her hair over her shoulder. Iruka just kept on as everyone took their seats. "Do you need to go to the infirmary?!"

"Why..? Kiyomiko quirked a brow, all eyes shifting to her as if she'd said something profoundly unexpected. She just shook her head as she leaned forward in her seat, resting her chin on her forearms in front of her as she sighed, her tone clearly stating that she was bored. "It's just water, guys. It won't kill you."

After that, everyone took their seats and class began, Iruka drawling on and on about things Kiyomiko already knew. It was just as boring today as it had been for the last five days and she was only taking notes to maintain appearances at this point. Graduation was tomorrow, however, so she wouldn't have to do this for much longer, she would be free of this farce. She'd only just barely managed to endure this boredom because her friends had been here to chat with during meal breaks, though they would soon graduate and become Genins. They would be seperated into teams, sent out on missions inside and outside the village, some far away, just like everyone else in this village. And then what would she do?

She would go through with the original plan, watch the Chunins and Jonins of the village and study their jutsus and techniques, learn their moves until she moved on to a new village, starting over again wherever she landed next. She couldn't stay, after all. She knew that. Staying in one place for too long only ensured that her father would find her, no matter what name she used or what she looked like, something always happened to ensure that he found her and Kiyomiko couldn't take the weight of more deaths on her mind. She wouldn't stand by and watch as more of her friends died by the hands of her father and his lackeys. She couldn't get close to anyone anymore.

"Kiyomiko, you have a visitor." Iruka broke the tedium as the class studied, pulling Kiyomiko out of her reverie while she'd been looking out the window. Glancing towards the door, she could see a figure standing in the corridor through the small, square glass pane. Iruka nodded and waved her off with a warm smile, giving her permission to leave the class. "Go ahead."

Standing and walking out of the classroom, Kiyomiko recognized the scent of tobacco smoke as she closed the sliding door behind her, knowing that the Hokage was standing beside her before she even looked to confirm it. The rain had slowed somewhat but it was still dark for mid-day, much to Kiyomiko's elation, and she turned to see that the Hokage was indeed standing beside her, still wearing his perfectly clean and dry white and red robes, holding his simple pipe, unlit, in one of his weathered hands.

"I see that you've managed to stay for this long." The Hokage mused, looking her over with an appraising expression as if he were gauging her responses, though he seemed more amused by her half-drenched appearance. "Any troubles?"

"Plenty." Kiyomiko sighed lightly, gesturing for the Hokage to follow her as she walked down the corridor at an easy pace, the elder man walking beside her. Even now, her training influenced her every action, always remaining on the forefront of her mind. She knew that it was harder to eavesdrop on a moving target. "I can tell that someone has been following me around for the last five days, observing me even while I'm at my apartment. I'll admit that it was rather amusing trying to test my evasion abilities against them but now it's getting a little old. Though, I have a feeling that's not why you're here."

"Hm.. I'll look into it. But, straight to the point.." The Hokage answered as they calmly walked through the halls of the Academy, the muffled voices of the teachers lecturing their students behind each door that they passed. Kiyomiko clasped her hands together behind her back, walking a step behind the Hokage and to his right, almost like a subordinate, something she had always reflexively done. A habit she had formed while she'd been with her father. "Graduation will be taking place tomorrow afternoon and I would like you to join one of the teams."

"You're kidding me, right?" Kiyomiko stopped in a quiet alcove near the back of the Academy with a quirked brow and a skeptical tone, looking up at the Hokage as if he were joking and she didn't understand the punchline. "You want me to become an active Genin for your village?"

"Now, now.. Just hear me out." The Hokage hushed her with a grandfatherly smile and Kiyomiko sighed, folding her arms across her chest as she waited for his explaination. "If you were to stay in the village, we could protect you. Call me concerned, but I've been doing some checking up on you since you started attending classes here. You've gotten rather close with those three boys in your class. Don't you want to stay in the village, for their sake?"

"They know a little about my situation. I've told them that I may have to leave the village again someday.. They.. understood." Kiyomiko's expression slowly fell into a mask devoid of emotion, her voice lowering as she turned away from the old man slightly. "And besides, why would I need protection, anyway? I'm no one special."

"I doubt that, child. I've been meaning to ask you.." The Hokage's tone softened into one of understanding and kindness, each word feeling like a pinprick on her heart as he rested a hand on her shoulder, as if he were trying to comfort her. "I've been thinking about it for the last week, Kiyomiko. Why would you be travelling from village to village? Why would you be alone? Why would you have such need for evasion skills? It's because you're running from something."

"My father." Kiyomiko sighed, her voice barely above a whisper as she shrugged the man's hand off of her shoulder, turning away fully now to face a window to the outside world. The clouds still covered the sky, the rain still fell upon the earth, the wind still caused the trees to sway and dance while lightning flickered and thunder rumbled in the far distance, but she knew the storm would come back. This storm was only just getting started. "I ran away from him when I was eight years old.. when he tried to kill me.."

Kiyomiko's quiet words bought her a few moments of somber silence as the Hokage listened, his features slightly darkening as his brows furrowed into a concerned frown. She could see his reflection in the glass and they looked at each other's reflections for a moment while Kiyomiko still had her back to him, as if she couldn't face him directly and still say the words that were slowly working towards the surface of her mind. She shouldn't say anymore, she knew that he would just betray her, everything he had said had just been rose-colored words and empty promises, that he would just find out who her father was and he'd try to return her to him.. Just like everyone else had when they found out, tried to sell her back to her father like some trinket.. But.. Why did she keep speaking? Why was she considering telling _this man_ everything? Why was he different?

"I have no other family that I know of.. I was told that my mother had died giving birth to me, though I don't even know if that's the truth. The first memory I have is waking up in some kind of hospital or medical ward when I was two years old.." Kiyomiko continued, her expression distant as she looked out the window, staring outside though her pale silver eyes remained unseeing. "I wanted to protect my father, help him however I could and he trained me to become an asset to him, exactly like I asked.. And then one day, he told me it was my eighth birthday and that I had become strong enough.. That I had done well and that he was proud.. I was so happy.. He said he had a gift for me.. This was his gift.."

Kiyomiko turned to face the Hokage as she raised a delicate hand to the bandages around her neck, her pale silver eyes closed as she pulled away the thin fabric in one fluid motion, revealing the two small circular puncture scars on the side of her neck, barely an inch away from her jugular. She knew that experience would tell the Hokage how she had acquired them. They were made by large senbon needles, meant to paralyze her and trap her but she had been running away and it's always harder to hit a moving target. The man's frown deepened slightly, raising a hand to gently brush his fingertips over her scars, Kiyomiko tilting her head to one side. The scars were deep, they would never fade. Her father hadn't just marked her, he had maimed her for life in his attempt to keep her still, for whatever twisted reason. Flashes of memories floated to the surface of Kiyomiko's mind, briefly visible in her pale silver eyes as she wrapped the bandages around her neck, turning to look up at the Hokage with an emotionless expression once again.

"So.. How exactly are you going to protect me from a monster?"

-(o.o)-

After her conversation with the Hokage, Kiyomiko had returned to class, though it was obvious that something about her had drastically changed. No matter what Iruka or her friends said, Kiyomiko remained silent, staring out the window with a completely blank expression as if she wasn't even there. Even Sasuke noticed something seemed wrong, as if she were cut off from her emotions, as if she were merely a reflection in the glass. After classes ended, Kiyomiko stood and left the Academy, walking slowly as if she were in a dream, stepping out into the pouring rain as she walked through the village in perfect silence, her eyes on the ground in front of her the whole time. It wasn't until the sun had set that Kiyomiko finally returned to her empty apartment.

Closing the door behind her, Kiyomiko looked around her barren apartment through flat grey eyes, letting her pack drop to the floor beside her. She was soaked to the bone, her waterlogged clothes weighing heavily on her body and she sighed, almost robotically stripping out of them right there by the door. She didn't want to track water everywhere and she hung up her clothes on the little hooks on the back of the door, water trickling onto the square-cut stone tiles of the entryway while she turned and walked into her bedroom to grab.. well, _anything_ dry. The first thing she grabbed from the back of her closet door was her white yukata and, without thinking, she wrapped it around her and tied the sash, pulling the leather cord from her soaking wet hair on the way to the bathroom. Grabbing a towel, Kiyomiko absent-mindedly patted her hair dry as she sat down on the wooden floor in the center of her sitting room before she let out a heavy sigh and laid back on the floor.

It was no use. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remain numb, detached and unfeeling forever. Tossing the towel aside, Kiyomiko curled onto one side, looking like a discarded ragdoll as she closed her eyes. So.. Tomorrow, she was going to become a shinobi for Konoha. She had discussed it at length with the Hokage, even drudging up old and very painful memories of the past in the process. Though, who could blame her for being apprehensive, if not outright afraid, of the idea of belonging solely to one place? The last time she had belonged, she had nearly died. It had been a very painful lesson for her, and not one that could easily be unlearned, though the Hokage had been.. remarkably understanding.

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko stood up, walking around her apartment and roughly opening every single window she had, pulling back the curtains as the sound of the pouring rain and heavy wind entered the small apartment. Kiyomiko even opened the sliding glass door to the balcony in her attempt to drown out the painful silence, the quiet was suffocating. She had grown up in a place where air was stale and stagnant, where she couldn't hear the sound of the birds or crickets and now the very thought of it, the mere memory, stifled her to the point were she couldn't breathe. She needed movement and noise, to feel free in wide-open spaces, even if it was just an illusion at times.

Once she was done, Kiyomiko laid back down on the floor in the center of her sitting room, looking at the sky through the open balcony doors as the rain pattered against the concrete tile floor outside. She see the lightning flickering in the distance, hear the thunder rolling steadily closer, the wind picking up again as a distant chime twanged and clanged in a discordant melody that seemed to mildly amuse her. At this point, she didn't care who it was that was watching her, she couldn't keep up the mask anymore, it had grown too heavy with the weight of her memories and she let it slip off as she closed her eyes, curling up onto her side as a few stray tears escaped and rolled down her rounded cheeks.

-(o.o)-

For the fifth night in a row, Jiraiya stood on the red tile rooftop next to the towering apartment building made out of white stone, holding a red parasol over his head to block out the rain as he watched the girl walk throughout the entire apartment and open every single window and even the balcony doors, a near panicked look on her face until she seemed to settle. It was strange, watching her. It brought back memories, painful memories of his earlier years, of people he would never be able to forget. With her pale skin, long black hair with those messy bangs slightly covering her face, wearing that white yukata, she looked so much like.. _him_.. He couldn't help the furrowing of his brows, the seriousness of his expression, his deep frown as his dark eyes narrowed slightly.

When every window had been opened, the girl walked back into the center of her dark and empty apartment. There wasn't a single piece of furniture to be seen in that room, like the apartment wasn't really lived in at all, and Jiraiya watched as the girl laid down on the wood floor in front of the balcony doors, his sharp eyes detecting the faint trembling of her shoulders as she curled onto one side, hugging her knees to her chest, her long wet hair pooling around her head into a puddle of black silk threads. That was when he noticed something strange. The girl's hand curled around her throat loosely, almost protectively, as if she were trying to hide something or protect herself as she made herself as small as possible while she lay there on the hard floor, the glimmer of tears rolling down her cheeks illuminated by a brief flash of lightning.

"Ah, Jiraiya, I see you've found our newest guest. I had a feeling that you were the one she meant when she told me someone had been following her around for the last five days." A familiar voice spoke from behind Jiraiya and he turned to see the Hokage, his teacher, walking up to stand beside him at the highest point of the red tile roof, following the younger man's gaze as he held a grey parasol in one hand and a lit pipe in the other. Jiraiya's gaze returned to the girl's dark apartment and the two men stood in silence for a moment, watching over the girl as she cried herself to sleep. "She looks just like him, doesn't she?"

"Who is she, Sensei?" Jiraiya asked, his gaze lingering on the girl for a while before he turned to look at the man beside him. The Hokage seemed somber, his expression perfectly veiled as if he knew something, his face only illuminated by the dim orange glow of the embers nestled in the bowl of the pipe he had pinched between his teeth. He knew something.. "She couldn't really be related to him, could she..? He was an orphan, the last of his family.. She couldn't be his daughter.. She's so young and he never seemed the type to.. have _children_.."

"I'm afraid that even I don't know for sure.. She's told me that she has no last name and she won't mention her father's name, as if it will somehow draw him near by merely uttering it.. But given the resemblance.. I certainly have my suspicions." The Hokage sighed as thunder rolled overhead, a little closer now, almost completely drowning out the soft yelps and whimpers coming from the girl's darkened apartment. She was having a nightmare. "However, she almost confirmed those suspicions this morning. She confessed that her father knew quite a bit about the village and even that he had been here at one time. She said that she initially came to Konoha because she thought she'd be safe, that it was the last place her father would look for simply because he hates the village so much. Now, that could mean that he used to live here or it could mean nothing.. Only time will tell."

"What will become of her, in the meantime?" Jiraiya asked, his normally warm and friendly demeanor perfectly stoic as he folded his arms across his chest, his expression distant as he turned his darkened gaze back to the girl just in time to see her jerk in her sleep as if she were fighting off some unknown attacker, tears freely rolling down her cheeks now, her whimpers and yelps fearful. If she really was.. who he thought she was.. What would he do? How would he react to such news? He had never prepared for something like this, never even considered the possibility that..

"Tomorrow, she will graduate from the Academy with the rest of her class and be assigned to a team of Genin, just like every other child her age. Granted, she is at least a Chunin level already, from what I've seen of her abilities but in a situation such as this, caution is the best strategy." The Hokage sighed, exhaling a puff of smoke as he turned back to look at the girl's apartment with a somber and solemn expression, as if watching her in the throes of a nightmare disturbed him greatly. "I have already asked Kakashi to watch over her for now. If something should happen, I'll get a message to you. I know that you are still searching for-"

"_Father, no!_" A young girl's voice interrupted the Hokage's words and both men turned to see that the young girl in question had sharply woken from her nightmare as she sat bolt-upright, her pupil-less pale silver eyes wide with pure terror as she frantically scrambled towards the nearest corner, scanning the darkness as beads of sweat formed on her brow. After a few seconds of silence, she released the breath she'd been holding before she hugged her knees to her chest and dropped her head into her hands, her long black hair hiding her face as her shoulders started to tremble from the force of her tears and the traces of telltale fear left over from her nightmare.

"This marks the sixth night, then... So far, she has woken up from a nightmare every night since she has agreed to stay in the village." The Hokage sighed as he lowered his head, turning away slightly, his expression telling Jiraiya that even his former teacher was at a loss, something he had only seen once. "Though, I don't believe that she's ever woken up this soon before. I've had ANBU observing her for the last week. They tell me.. Every night, she wakes up after only a few hours of sleep, always crying out the same thing.. and she never goes back to sleep afterwards. She just sits there, staring out the window as if she's waiting for the sun to rise before she goes about her day normally."

"But, how could she still be standing?! That kind of sleep deprivation-!" Jiraiya's eyes went wide at the older man's words, shocked that someone so young could withstand such a harsh lifestyle. The effects on the mind alone would be devastating and monumental.. Black-outs, hallucinations, severe headaches, depression and anxiety.. That could drive anyone mad over long periods of time, in fact he'd frequently seen sleep deprivation used as a method of torture. "At this rate, she could collapse!"

"Do you not find it strange that Kiyomiko still appears to be perfectly healthy?" The Hokage asked, turning his gaze to the younger man with a serious expression, causing Jiraiya to pause. "She barely sleeps, hardly ever eats beyond dried fruit or rice.. Yet she is still able to keep up her active lifestyle when anyone else would have long-since collapsed. I believe that shows the strength of her determination and resolve, however there is something else at work. Though, what that is, I do not know. I only hope that my worst fears are not confirmed."

-(o.o)-

The next morning, Kiyomiko stood on her balcony, looking over the village as a cool, damp breeze brushed across her skin. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast and it was somewhat chilly for mid-spring. Kiyomiko was wearing her white yukata with the long and flowing sleeves, her calves, hands and neck covered with pure white bandages, geta on her feet and her long black hair pulled back into a high ponytail that hung down to the swell of her hips. Her eyes were shadowed with charcoal and there was a clear gloss over her lips, her fingernails and toenails painted white now. She wanted to look her best.. Because today was the day that Kiyomiko would graduate from Konoha's ninja Academy and become a Genin for the village. There would be no going back from this, yet her mind was strangely quiet, as if she'd attained some kind of strange peace but she couldn't escape the slightly hollow feeling in her chest, as if her freedom was slowly slipping away and being replaced by something.. she'd never understood before, for better or worse.

A small sigh escaped her before she let herself slip over the balcony railing and fall into the alley below, dismissing her pale blue chakra when her geta clicked against the dirt ground below her. Once she was on the ground, Kiyomiko opened her pale, pupil-less silver eyes and left the alley, her long black hair swaying in the gentle breeze as she walked. Weak, pale yellow rays of sunshine gradually tried to peek through the thin clouds as Kiyomiko walked up to the Academy, the streets of Konoha strangely quiet. Fitting, really, though she knew she was about an hour early for the graduation tests and that was fine. She didn't mind waiting. Walking into the building, Kiyomiko approached the door to her classroom, pushing it open before she paused in the threshold, seeing that only one student had arrived before her today. Uchiha Sasuke.

Almost reflexively, Kiyomiko took a single step back into the corridor and closed the sliding door with a quiet click, choosing instead to head into the pathetic excuse for a training yard behind the Academy. It would be a while before she needed to be in the classroom anyway and she didn't exactly want to sit in an empty room with Sasuke for an hour. There was a sort of perfect silence as Kiyomiko walked out into the training yard, the clouds slowly drifting apart as the sunlight finally broke through to shine down on the world, providing a sort of hollow warmth that didn't quite reach her. Listening to her senses, she was sure that no one was around, that she hadn't been followed and she gave a little nod as she walked into the center of the yard.

For a few moments, she stood there as if she were waiting, listening to her own soft breathing and her heartbeat, the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees as she pulled her fan from her sash. A few scattered droplets of rain fell upon her shoulders and the clouds parted a little more to bathe the training yard in pale light as Kiyomiko brought her hands up in front of her, her eyes closed and her movements graceful as she opened her fan with one hand. She had already memorized the layout of the training yard and as she slowly exhaled, she began to move. It was a simple dance, something only she could do, something only she knew and the only music that played were the soft and gentle notes in her mind, like a music box, accompanied by the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees and the gentle raindrops in the grass.

Slowly and gracefully, she danced around in a small circle, lightly waving her fan like butterfly wings, a strange breeze coming from the fan as the black metal spines shimmered in the light from her movements. She had total control over her environment, total control over her movements and her steps were so gentle that her geta didn't even click across the ground and there was a strange absence of ripples when she stepped into any of the puddles around her. She never even noticed the slight chill in the air begin to slowly and gradually grow colder, frost forming around her feet as she inhaled and exhaled silently, in a perfect rhythm with her steps. She couldn't remember where she learned this dance but she had known that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life, even though she knew she had seen it on a battlefield somewhere. This dance wasn't really a dance at all. Instead each movement, at full speed, was a fighting style that could only be used with a battle fan, by wind users. Luckily for her, she was a wind and water user, a particularly beautiful and deadly combination when used correctly.

With one last step, Kiyomiko stopped in the center of the circle she'd made as she raised her arms up in front of her again, her fan blocking her face before she closed it with one hand, a delicate click marking the end of the dance with a strange sense of finality as she exhaled, opening her pale silver eyes to the bright morning light. She could still feel the chakra humming beneath her skin, somehow stirred by the dance, though perhaps it was more due to her peaceful and serene mental state instead. A few seconds of silence passed before Kiyomiko could hear a few whispers nearby and she looked up, her pale silver eyes widening when she saw the faces of her classmates standing in the corridor as they watched her. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto and even Sasuke was there, standing at the front of the crowd of onlookers while even Iruka stood and stared, his startled expression high above the heads of the children. Shit..

In that moment, Kiyomiko's expression turned to icy cold detachment as she slipped her fan back into her sash, sweeping her messy bangs out of her eyes with one hand as she lowered her head, walking into the corridor, hoping no one would notice the thick layer of frost that covered the ground where she had stood before. This was bad. This was very, very bad. That dance was something that no one should ever see, it was hers, part of her, something she'd kept hidden from the world for _years_ and now they all knew about it! After a few moments of mentally berating herself, Kiyomiko started to walk passed her classmates on her way back to the classroom, the students quickly moving out of the way as if she were going to bite them if they didn't move fast enough. An amusing thought.

However, just as she was almost passed them, Kiyomiko felt a hand grip her wrist and she stopped, slowly turning to see a pair of ink-black eyes, Sasuke's eyes. His eyes were wide as he touched her skin, feeling just how terribly cold her skin was and Kiyomiko pulled her hand from his grasp in one fluid motion, her pale silver eyes locked on his. Even though she wasn't showing any emotion, she knew that the _way_ she was looking at him told him how she felt. She was furious and Sasuke seemed to see that before she turned on her heel, walking back towards the classroom without saying a single thing, her geta clicking against the hardwood floors in a monotone rhythm.

After the personal fiasco in the training yard, Kiyomiko took her seat in the back of the classroom and soon her classmates began to file in around her, all of them sitting and waiting for a teacher to come in. A few of them whispered about her, she could hear them but she didn't pay any attention, ignoring them as she stared out the window just as she always did, before a teacher finally showed up, holding a clipboard in hand. When everyone settled down, the man started off by congratulating the students for making it this far, something that Kiyomiko rolled her eyes at, before going on to explain that there would be a final test before graduation. One by one, each student was called and instructed to go into a different classroom where two teachers would be waiting to give the student their final test.

The students began to file out, one at a time, as an hour passed slowly, then two hours, and then finally, when Kiyomiko was the last student left, three hours had passed before she was called. Standing, Kiyomiko turned and left the classroom, walking down the long corridor to the classroom at the end of the hall where all of the other students had gone. Sliding the door open, Kiyomiko stepped inside and closed the sliding door behind her before she turned and walked into the center of the room. It was a large room, completely empty except for a long table and two chairs near the chalkboard, Iruka and another teacher, Mizuki, sat at the table as they looked at her. Kiyomiko had seen Mizuki around the Academy a few times in the last week and she had quickly come to the conclusion that she didn't like him. _At all_. Something about him seemed terribly fake somehow and whenever she passed him, she noticed that he always smelled like old blood, though she seemed to be the only one who noticed it. Even Kiba couldn't smell anything when Kiyomiko mentioned it to him.

"Alright, Kiyomiko. We just have a few final tests for you before you graduate. Though, in your case I think it's more of a formality." Iruka smiled warmly, though his smile seemed a little strained now, probably because he'd seen her in the training yard when she thought she'd been alone. Mizuki, on the other hand, hadn't even blinked. He just stared at her with that smug, almost leering, smile that made her want to knock out those perfect teeth of his. Iruka stood and pointed to the wall where a dartboard-looking target had been hung and Kiyomiko nearly rolled her eyes. It wasn't even a moving target! "Could you hit that for me, please?"

"Yes, sir." Kiyomiko responded politely, reaching into her hair with one hand and flicking a single senbon needle at the center of the target in one fluid motion. It had been so perfect that the two teachers had nearly missed it, Mizuki's eyes widening slightly as he looked back and forth between Kiyomiko and the target, the single senbon needle sticking out of the bull's eye, dead center. "Would you like me to hit it again, Sensei?"

"No, no. That'll do for now." Iruka chuckled a little awkwardly, watching as Kiyomiko pulled her hand back and a wire string shimmered in the light, the senbon needle pulling itself out of the target before it flew back to Kiyomiko's hand where she stashed it away in her hair again while Mizuki wrote something down on his clipboard. "Let's try a clone technique and then a transformation technique this time."

"Yes, sir." Kiyomiko replied again, her tone perfectly flat as she brought her hands up to form a seal with her delicate fingers. Mizuki was watching her closely now, too closely for comfort and Iruka didn't seem to even notice anything out of the ordinary. Was this really normal behavior for Mizuki? That was kind of.. distressing. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"

There were four soft pops in the back of the classroom and soon five identical girls stood there, their arms folded across their chests for a few seconds before all four of the clones brought their hands up and formed seals in unison. Four more soft pops echoed through the classroom and Kiyomiko stood in the center, unchanged, while her four clones had been perfectly transformed into Iruka, Mizuki and two other teachers from the Academy. After a few seconds passed, the transformed clones reverted back into the likeness of Kiyomiko before she dismissed them with a wave of her hand. Truth be told, she had debated transforming her clones into Iruka and Mizuki wearing frilly, girly dresses to ease some of the tedium of this drawling event but she had thought better of it at the last minute. Pity.

"Well done, little girl! I must say, I'm impressed by your perfect chakra control." Mizuki chuckled in that smug, almost vainglorious tone of his and Kiyomiko bit her tongue to keep her venom at bay, slipping her hands into her sleeves as she clasped her hands together over her waist. _Calm down, it wouldn't do to lose your temper on him, though it is tempting to stick a senbon needle in his eye.._ "Well, you've passed your graduation exams with flying colors. You're now officially a Genin. You should hurry along and tell your parents the news, I'm sure they'll be _very_ proud."

"Thank you but unfortunately, I don't have any parents." Kiyomiko replied curtly before she could stop herself, her tone icy cold before she bit down on her tongue again to silence herself. Both Iruka and Mizuki seemed a little taken aback by this, however Iruka's expression seemed to soften somewhat with a flicker of understanding in his gaze. Without another word, Kiyomiko strode over to the table where a box of identical forehead protectors sat and she picked one up, choosing the only one with charcoal grey fabric instead of the usual navy blue or forest green. Grey suited her better, the color of shadow, murky and deep, allowing her true self to remain unseen. Yes, grey did suit her better.

Turning on her heel, Kiyomiko's geta clicked primly across the floor as she tied her new forehead protector loosely around her neck like a scarf, the symbol of Konoha resting just over the nape of her neck as she opened the sliding door and stepped outside, hearing Iruka and Mizuki talking behind her as she walked down the corridor towards the outside world. She had officially graduated from this farce of a school and she was now an active Genin for Konoha and tomorrow she would be placed on a team with two of her classmates, taught by a Jonin and expected to run various missions to earn her keep. Well, at least it would keep her busy in between sneaking away to the various training grounds located around Konoha and spying on the Chunin and Jonin.

As she left the Academy, Kiyomiko shielded her eyes and almost covered her ears from all the noise. A large crowd had gathered in front of the school, parents congratulating the children that had graduated and consoling the ones who hadn't. The bright afternoon sunlight caught her by surprise and she cringed as she snuck away from the crowd, noticing that the Hokage was there, and Iruka and Mizuki were following her. With an irritated sigh, Kiyomiko hurried away from the school, the sunlight blurring her vision enough that she had to rub her eyes as she walked. She didn't need to see to know where she was going, though, she had the whole village memorized by now and her sense of smell alerted her when a person was nearby so she didn't walk into anyone as she made her way back towards her apartment. She just wanted to be left alone, she didn't need anyone to congratulate her for passing some stupid tests when she didn't even try very hard.

"Kiyomiko! Hold on a minute!" With a sigh, Kiyomiko paused and lowered her hands from her eyes just enough to see Iruka jogging towards her with a friendly smile, his smile faltering when he saw the tears in her eyes. And of course, he misunderstood. It was official. The universe hated her and her entire life was some manner of cosmic joke. Immediately, he was concerned and he came to a stop, kneeling in front of her while his fawning drew the attention of _everyone_ on the street. "Kiyomiko, what's wrong?! Why are you crying?!"

"Oh, don't be an idiot. The sun hurts my eyes, that's all." Kiyomiko drawled with a perfectly bored and disinterested tone as she turned and started walking away, Iruka blinking from the abruptness of the misunderstanding before he started to follow, jogging to catch up before he fell in beside her. Kiyomiko sighed as she cast a sideways glance at the teacher, her pale silver eyes slightly narrowed because of the fiery orange glow of the sunset she was walking towards. Damn apartment was west of the Academy. "Did you need something, Iruka?"

"You know, most kids your age call me "sensei".."

"I don't have to anymore, remember? You passed me." Kiyomiko countered smoothly, coming to a stop in front of her apartment building as she folded her arms across her chest, looking up at Iruka as he gave an awkward chuckle. "Look, I know that you probably feel obligated to worry over me now that you know I'm an orphan but I don't need to be coddled by anyone and I don't _want_ to be coddled. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, _thank you very much_, and I'm rather tired of everyone in this village underestimating me. Now if you'll excuse me-."

Kiyomiko didn't even bother to come up with an excuse as she turned on her heel and walked into her apartment building, leaving Iruka standing outside the door, wide-eyed and shocked by her tone as she closed the door behind her and ascended the stairs, four stories up to the fifth floor where there was only one apartment. Hers. She never even slowed her pace until she reached her door, opened it, walked inside and kicked the door closed behind her.

-(o.o)-

Later that night, Kiyomiko stood upon the flat roof of her apartment building where she could see the whole village as the setting sun dipped below the horizon and shadows reigned supreme. She had been waiting for nightfall. Reaching up, Kiyomiko deftly untied the binds that held her hair, her long black locks cascading down her shoulders and back like a waterfall of ink-colored silk, lightly swaying in the breeze. There was something on the air, something that sent a shiver down her spine and put butterflies in her stomach. Something had happened. She could feel the tension, she could see the people gathering around the tower where the Hokage resided, looking agitated and angry as they waited. She could see the Hokage walked out of the tower with a startlingly serious expression, her sharp eyes narrowed as she crouched down so she wouldn't be seen.

A second later, Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes widened, hearing a name on the wind and she felt as if her heart had nearly stopped. Naruto. He was in trouble and now there was an angry mob of ninjas looking for him, for whatever reason. She needed to find him first! She couldn't go to his apartment, that would be the first place that the mob looked for him and she couldn't be seen. The next place would be Ichiraku, the ramen shack where she'd first met him, and she couldn't go there, either. Even with the heightened senses her father had given her, she needed help. With one fluid motion, Kiyomiko brought her thumbs up to her lips, her sharp incisors piercing her skin and drawing blood before she formed a few seals, leaning down to slap her bloody hands down on the concrete tile at her feet.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Kiyomiko hissed as two seals formed around her hands and two small puffs of smoke appeared where her hands had been, two familiar scents reaching her nose and causing her to smile slightly. After the smoke had cleared, Kiyomiko could see two foxes sitting in front of her, almost perfectly identical with their pure white fur, two tails each and the little red scarves around their necks, except one had sky blue eyes and the other had bright green. The blue-eyed fox was the female, while the green-eyed fox was the male. "Kotone, Takeshi, long time no see. I need some help."

"What's up, Ne-san?" Takeshi, the green-eyed fox asked as he and his blue-eyed sister curled themselves around Kiyomiko's knees lovingly, almost more like cats than foxes, and Kiyomiko knelt down to pet them gently.

"How can we help?" Kotone asked as she and her brother came to a stop in front of Kiyomiko, leaning into her touch with matching smiles that only foxes could make. Kiyomiko loved the expressions of foxes, you could never quite tell what they were thinking and she could identify with that.

"Get the scent off of this as quickly as you can." Kiyomiko pulled something out of her sleeve, a little coupon for ramen, something that Naruto had given her after they had become friends. She could tell by how worn the paper was that he'd treasured it, and as amusing as that thought was, she didn't dwell on it. The two foxes approached, sniffing at the little scrap of paper that she held out in her open palm. "I need help finding the owner of that scent and my nose isn't as good as yours."

"_Well, we could have told you that!_" The fox siblings chuckled in unison as they raised their noses and sniffed at the air, their eyes narrowed like cat eyes as they both turned to face the same direction, south, stalking to the edge of the roof with Kiyomiko in tow. They had the scent but something else was wrong, she could tell by the tension in their muscles as they lowered their heads slightly, the fur on the backs of their necks raising slightly.

"Ne-san.. This boy.. He's like you, isn't he?" Takeshi cast her a sideways glance as Kiyomiko walked up between the twin foxes, the fox's expression betraying a slight apprehension, something that she had never seen before. "His scent.. It's familiar, like a fox.."

"I know, Takeshi." Kiyomiko sighed as she knelt down between the two foxes, following their gaze to the dense forest south of Konoha. "That's one of the reasons why I need to find him fast. I know there's something about him that's like me.. He may be loud, obnoxious and too happy all the time but.. He's a friend."

"Well, whoever he is, he has two people following him." Kotone spoke up, her sky blue eyes narrowing slightly as she held her nose up, a gentle breeze ruffling her snow white fur. "One of them smells like cedar trees but the other smells like dead blood.. They're closing in fast."

"Can we beat them?" Kiyomiko asked, her expression suddenly turning deadly serious and the two foxes smirked as they cast her a sidelong glance. Kiyomiko knew what that meant and she grinned, her pale silver eyes glittering in the dark as she stood in a ready stance, like a runner about to sprint, her fingertips just lightly touching the concrete tile. "Just like old times, huh?"

"Ready..!" Kotone grinned over her shoulder as she tensed, looking like she was about to bolt at any second. This was a game they used to play, when they had first met each other. The two fox siblings would challenge Kiyomiko to a race and they would always lose. This time would be no different. Kiyomiko's friend was in danger.

"Set..!" Takeshi smirked, his posture mirroring Kotone's as a gust of cold air began to form around Kiyomiko.

"_Go!_" Kiyomiko shouted in unison with the fox siblings and they were off, barreling towards the forested area where Naruto's scent was coming from, Kiyomiko following after the two foxes with relative ease. She let nothing slow her furious pace, jumping along the rooftops as her geta clacked against the tiles and concrete, her form a streak of black and white in the light of the crescent moon. She didn't even stop when she crashed through the foliage of the trees near the edge of the village, feeling the sharp sticks claw at her hair and clothes, the scents of Iruka and Mizuki left somewhere behind her. If there was anything that Kiyomiko was proud of, it was her speed and her near feral grin widened when she dropped onto all fours, Naruto's scent reaching her nose just seconds before she sped off towards it, passing Kotone and Takeshi in a near blur.

"Oie! That's no fair!" Takeshi cried, startled as he tried to keep pace with Kiyomiko, his bright green eyes wide.

"You were holding back on us?!" Kotone gaped and Kiyomiko laughed, running through the branches of the densely-packed trees in the southern forests around Konoha.

Moonlight split the canopy of foliage and the scent of mid-spring flowers and dew hung heavily in the air and all of a sudden, Kiyomiko came to a quick stop, grabbing up the two foxes under each arm as she dropped from the branches of a tall tree and landed in the cover of a massive bush. Takeshi and Kotone seemed to understand what was going on and they nodded to each other, nudging Kiyomiko with their noses as a way of saying goodbye without speaking before they both popped out of existence, returning to their home. Naruto's scent was coming from the other side of the bushes and judging by how fast she was going, Iruka and Mizuki would be showing up in a few minutes. She had to hurry.

Peering through the bushes, Kiyomiko could see a little wooden house nestled between the tall trees, most likely abandoned and falling into disrepair. Naruto was sitting a short distance away with a giant scroll in his lap, oblivious to any danger as he panted for breath, sweat covering his skin and dirt dusting his orange jumpsuit. His scent was _everywhere_ and Kiyomiko was slightly startled by that, though she didn't show it as she stood up from the bushes, silently walking up behind the boy with an annoyed expression on her face, her delicate hand balled up into a little fist.

"_Aho!_" Kiyomiko shouted as she brought her fist down on the top of Naruto's head, not hard enough to hurt him but enough to startle him, causing him to drop the giant scroll and let out a soft yelp as he looked up at Kiyomiko with a puzzled expression as she continued. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?!"

"Kiyo-chan?! What are you doing way out here?!" Naruto whined as he rubbed the growing lump on his head, pouting faintly as Kiyomiko walked around him and looked down at her scatter-brained friend. "I thought this place was supposed to be a secret!"

"There's an angry mob looking for you, you little idiot!" Kiyomiko scolded as she planted her hands on her hips firmly, leaning slightly at the waist and acting remarkably like an older sibling as Naruto got to his feet. "Do you realize what that means?! They're going to lynch you if they find you! And all because you stole that scroll!"

"I didn't steal it, though! Mizuki-sensei told me to get it!" Naruto defended as he bent over and gathered up the scroll, holding it out to her as if it were some sort of prize. "He said I could graduate the Academy if I got it and brought it here! He said he'd meet me here!"

"You really are a little idiot.." Kiyomiko sighed as she facepalmed, ignoring the indignant whines of protest from Naruto before she held up a hand to silence him, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off the oncoming migraine. "Look, Mizuki just _used you_ to get the scroll for himself! Now we need to get out of here and get that scroll back to the Hokage before anyone else shows up!"

A few seconds of stunned silence passed before a look of realization dawned on Naruto's face, his bright blue eyes growing wide as he dropped the scroll in surprise. The scroll hit the grass and rolled, unraveling slightly to reveal the contents written inside and Kiyomiko sighed as she leaned down to pick it back up, hesitating for a split second. Without even realizing it, her eyes flickered blood red and scanned the written words and diagrams, her hand hovering over the paper as she realized. This wasn't just any scroll, this was every secret technique created by the people of Konoha, sealed away because they were too dangerous to use under normal circumstances.

The first technique was Shadow Clones, something that Kiyomiko already knew but the second.. It was a binding technique using one's own chakra and Kiyomiko's sharp eyes scanned the page at lightning-speed, instantly memorizing each step before she even realized what she was doing. Luckily for her, however, Naruto seemed none the wiser as he started to panic, babbling on and on about something or another as Kiyomiko finally tore her eyes away from the scroll and closed them, forcing them to return to their natural pupil-less, pale silver. It had been her need for knowledge that had originally brought her to the village and this had been too good an opportunity to pass up, she just wished she had more time.. With an inaudible sigh, Kiyomiko rolled up the scroll and handed it back to Naruto.

"Ne ne, Kiyo-chan! You don't think the Hokage will expell me from the Academy for this, do you?! I couldn't take another four years!" Naruto asked worriedly, panic clear on his face as Kiyomiko shoved the scroll into his arms.

"Naruto, now isn't the time to think about such things. We need to-!" Kiyomiko's words fell away as she froze, a scent reaching her nose and approaching quickly. Cedars. It was Iruka! Damn, he was fast! "There's no time now! We have to hide! Come on!"

Before Naruto had a chance to question her, Kiyomiko grabbed his arm and jumped into a nearby bush, crouching down and hiding in the dense, shadowy foliage, a few dew-slicked leaves clinging to her skin. The approaching scent was getting stronger and Kiyomiko cupped a hand over Naruto's mouth to quiet the boy, erasing her own presence just in time to hear a faint rustling in the trees nearby. The rustling grow louder and louder until the shadowy figure of Iruka finally appeared in the clearing beside the dilapidated wooden house, looking down at the massive collection of child-size footprints left in the grass by Naruto and Kiyomiko nearly facepalmed again. Naruto seemed to realize that Iruka had arrived and he started squirming in her grasp only to get free a second later.

"Naruto, wait!" Kiyomiko hissed as Naruto burst out of the bushes, startling Iruka, but he was too excited to see his teacher, a huge and beaming smile on his face. Kiyomiko groaned inwardly, pinching the bridge of her nose again as she cringed, hearing Iruka immediately begin to scold Naruto for the exact same reasons that Kiyomiko had just minutes ago. Oh, to be young and innocent.

Just as Iruka was scolding Naruto, another scent reached Kiyomiko's nose and she bit back a reflexive growl, the stench of old blood wafting through the air as she tensed. It was Mizuki and he was coming up on them fast. She had to move or she would be seen! Using Naruto's voice as cover, Kiyomiko moved as quickly and quietly as possible, circling around the outer edges of the clearing and keeping out of sight until she came up behind the old wooden house, creeping around the side of it until she could peer around a corner and see the front door, where Iruka and Naruto were standing. Just as she had settled into the shadows, she heard a faint whistling sound that grated on her senses as it gradually grew louder and Kiyomiko looked up just in time to see half a dozen kunai flying through the trees, baring down on Naruto and Iruka.

Acting as fast as she could, Kiyomiko reached into her hair and drew out a senbon needle, whipping it at the collection of kunai. It hit one just enough that a soft _ting_ was heard and Iruka reacted just in time. In that instant, Iruka noticed the kunai and he knocked Naruto out of the way, bringing his arms to to shield himself just as the kunai hit him, knocking him back and pinning him against the side of the old wooden house. Kiyomiko didn't relax, however, because Naruto was left out in the open, completely defenseless with the giant scroll roped to his back, his bright blue eyes wide as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

"Yo, Iruka!" Mizuki chuckled just as he appeared in the branches of a nearby tree, a giant black shuriken already in-hand and ready as he crouched on a low branch of a tall tree, grinning down at Iruka and Naruto as if they were lesser beings. Once again, Kiyomiko desperately wanted to knock out those perfect teeth of his and this time, she might be able to get that chance. That thought made her smile. "I'm surprised that you managed to find this place so quickly!"

"Mizuki! What are you doing?!" Iruka looked up at Mizuki with hurt in his eyes as he began to realize what Kiyomiko had been sensing from the smug teacher for the last week. Kiyomiko could see Mizuki's smile widen and she knew his type instantly. He wanted to see the hurt in Iruka's eyes, he wanted to cause more hurt and Kiyomiko knew that he wasn't someone that could be reasoned with. She couldn't expose herself with so many people around but she had to do something! Crouching around the corner of the little wooden house, Kiyomiko's delicate hands balled up into fists as she could only watch.

"Isn't it obvious?! I'm taking the scroll!" Mizuko answered with an almost gleeful tone as Kiyomiko tensed. "Naruto! Give me the scroll now!"

"W-wait a minute.." Naruto's eyes were wide as he looked between Iruka and Mizuki as if he didn't understand, a slight tremble in his tone. "What's going on here?!"

"Naruto, don't let Mizuki get the scroll!" Iruka panted, reaching up to grab one of the kunai pinning him to the weathered wood wall behind him, yanking it out to free his shoulder as he glared at Mizuki. "It contains the forbidden jutsu that could put the entire village in grave danger! Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself for the sake of his own power!"

"Ha! Iruka is just trying to scare you because he doesn't want _you_ to have the scroll!" Mizuki countered with a smug expression, a twisted look in his eyes that made Kiyomiko's skin crawl as she wracked her brain, trying to think of _anything_ she could do in this situation without revealing herself.

"Huh..?!" Naruto looked up at Mizuki with wide eyes for a moment before his gaze shifted to Iruka, confusion and hurt flickering in his gaze.

"Stop lying, Mizuki!" Iruka shouted, the waver in his voice plain as day to Kiyomiko as she grit her teeth. He was hiding something. "Don't let him trick you, Naruto! He's lying!"

"O-oh! That's rich!" Mizuki started to laugh, a sick and disturbing sound as he actually relaxed his posture enough to hold one of his sides with his free hand, still holding the giant shuriken with his other. "I'll tell you who's _really_ lying! _The whole village!_ They've been lying to you for your whole life, Naruto! Since the decree twelve years ago!"

"No, Mizuki! It's forbidden to tell him!" Iruka cried, panic clear in his voice as Naruto paled a shade, Mizuki's wicked smirk widening into a smile.

"Everyone knows except you, Naruto!" Mizuki pressed on, delighting in watching Iruka squirm while tears began to form in Naruto's eyes. Kiyomiko bit back a growl as a distinct chill began to form in the air. "Iruka's trying to hide it from you even now! He'd do _anything_ to shut me up!"

"What is this decree?!" Naruto shouted. "Why does everyone else know about it?!"

"The decree is that no one can tell you that the Nine-Tailed fox is inside you!" Mizuki finished with a mad laugh, Naruto's expression going blank with shock as Iruka slumped in defeat. "The fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village twelve years ago has taken over your body! You _are_ the Nine-Tails fox! They've all been sneaking around hiding things from you for your entire life! Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you?! Like dirt! Like they hated you for just being alive!"

Kiyomiko watched the scene playing out before her with wide eyes, Mizuki raising the giant shuriken with one arm, almost in slow motion, as he brought it back in preparation to throw it. Naruto was in shock, the hurt and pain clear on his face as his chakra began to leak out of him in a torrent, slicing at the rain-soaked ground as he just _stood there_. Mizuki threw the giant shuriken at Naruto just as Iruka store himself away from the kunai that had pinned him to the wooden wall, moving into position to shield Naruto with his own body but Kiyomiko knew the danger. If Iruka stayed like that, the shuriken would kill him! In one fluid movement, Kiyomiko grabbed a pair of senbon needles from her hair and whipped them at the center-axis of the shuriken, praying to any deity that would listen. Her prayers were seemingly answered, her senbon needles struck the giant shuriken with a soft _ting_ that went unnoticed by all as the impact only slightly affected the shuriken's path. When it struck Iruka, it was no longer life-threatening.

Before Kiyomiko could think of anything else, Naruto turned and took off into the forest, tears in his eyes as he ran as fast as he could and Kiyomiko froze, looking between where Naruto had just disappeared and where Iruka was slumped over on the ground. She had to take out Mizuki before he did any more damage but with Iruka sitting there, he would see her and she still couldn't risk being seen! Biting back a low growl, Kiyomiko slowly stepped back as Mizuki dropped from the tree branch he'd been kneeling on, calmly strolling up to Iruka.

"Ha! I told you!" Mizuki gloated, grinning like some sort of triumphant mad man. "Did you see his eyes?! They were the eyes of that monster, the Nine-Tails!"

"You're wrong! Naruto's not like that!" Iruka forced himself to his knees and reached back, grasping at the giant shuriken and pulling it out of his back before whipping it towards Mizuki with all his strength. Unfortunately, it was a wild shot and Mizuki dodged it easily. A few seconds later, Iruka's vision seemed to blur as his eyes lost focus, collapsing face down in the dirt, too weak to even defend himself. Kiyomiko hesitated.

"We'll see who's right, Iruka!" Mizuki chuckled as he smirked and walked up to Iruka with that familiar leering grin that made Kiyomiko cringe. "I'm going to kill that monster and take the scroll for myself! Then I'm going to come back and kill you."

With that, Mizuko jumped off into the forest after Naruto, leaving Iruka laying in the dirt as blood began to slowly pool around him, trickling from the gaping wound on his back. Kiyomiko frowned as she bit her lower lip, looking between where Mizuki had disappeared and back to Iruka's prone form, hearing the man's labored breathing. She couldn't just leave Iruka like this, not when he was so close to death, but she had to find Naruto! With a low growl, Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and stalked out of the cover of the nearby bushes, standing behind Iruka so that he couldn't see her but he seemed to hear her and he tensed as if he was waiting for his attacker to make themselves known.

"You really _are_ an idiot, aren't you?" Kiyomiko flashed a bitter smile as she stepped up beside Iruka, crouching down beside him while making sure that her white yukata didn't touch the ground or the blood pooling around the tensed man. Reaching into a hidden pocket in her sleeve, Kiyomiko withdrew a small bottle that held a large number of small, spherical black pills, shaking a few into her palm before she lowered her hand in front of Iruka's face, offering them to him. "Eat these and don't move."

"Who are you?!" Iruka questioned, his whole body tensed and his words slurring a little from the vast amount of blood he was loosing. She didn't have time to sit around and answer all of his questions and a small growl of frustration slipped out before she could stop it. "Y-your voice.. It sounds familiar.."

"Let me make things _delightfully_ simple for you, _baka-sensei_. Take these pills, or you'll die of bloodloss. 'Kay?" Kiyomiko grumbled before she cupped her hand over Iruka's mouth without warning, forcing him to take the pills and he accepted them, albeit reluctantly, while Kiyomiko leaned back to inspect his wound. Reaching up to his wound, Kiyomiko delicately grasped the back of his jacket and tore it open just enough to expose the wound so she could see what she was dealing with and she cringed. Even if it wasn't immediately life-threatening, it was still really bad. "Listen, I don't exactly have a lot of time to sit around, so lay still while I heal you. This will just take a sec."

"Why are you helping me?" Iruka asked, his voice quiet and hoarse as Kiyomiko took a deep breath, holding her open palms over Iruka's wound as a glowing green chakra pooled from her fingertips, seeping into his skin. "You should be trying to catch Mizuki!"

"You think I don't already know that?! Just shut up and don't move! I need to concentrate and all your yapping is making it hard for me to think!" Kiyomiko snapped dryly as she watched the progress her healing jutsu was making. Iruka's wound slowly began to heal, flesh knitting itself back together but it was too slow! She was loosing time!

Gritting her teeth, Kiyomiko forced more of her chakra into healing the wound as quickly and efficiently as possible and that seemed to help a little bit. Within a few minutes, Iruka's wound had almost completely healed, the flesh knit back together with only a bruise remaining and Kiyomiko allowed her chakra to slowly taper off, leaning back with a soft sigh. Iruka seemed to be feeling better as soon as she finished and he showed it by slowly trying to turn his head to see who she was. With a low growl of warning, Kiyomiko pulled a jagged black kunai from her sleeve and jammed it into the earth right in front of his eyes to block his vision before he could get a good look and the teacher went perfectly rigid.

"I told you not to move, Iruka." Kiyomiko said with a reproachful tone as she slowly stood, a strange and distinct chill forming in the air around her as she took a step back. "I don't know if you understand this or not but I'm _in hiding_ here. If you found who I am, I'd be in trouble and I don't need that headache at the moment. Now stay there while I go and deal with this situation with Mizuki."

"Wait! Just tell me who you are! Your hands are too small to be an adult! Are you one of Naruto's friends?! One of my students?!" Iruka pleaded as Kiyomiko turned and stalked away, sinking into the shadows as she walked towards Naruto's scent. Iruka heard the retreating footsteps and carefully pushed himself up into a stand just in time to see Kiyomiko's retreating silhouette as she disappeared into the forest, her long black hair swaying in the gentle breeze as she jumped up into the boughs of a nearby tree. "Kiyo..miko..?"

-(o.o)-

Later that day, after she returned to her apartment, Kiyomiko flopped down onto her bed gracelessly, sighing softly as she covered her eyes with her forearm and blocked out the cursed light of the morning sun. In the end, after she had tended to Iruka's wounds, Naruto had been the one to defeat Mizuki and Kiyomiko had sat back to watch with a pleasantly surprised expression. She had been so caught up in watching Naruto fighting Mizuki that she had nearly missed the scents of the ANBU agents approaching though she managed to sneak away before any of them found her there, returning to her apartment knowing that Naruto had been victorious. He hadn't needed her help after all.

Now, however, Kiyomiko was completely worn out and exhausted, her muscles achy and sore from so much high-speed running and her chakra was mostly drained. All in all, Kiyomiko was not having a very good morning. She hadn't slept at all in the last twenty-four hours, hadn't eaten in the last thirty-six hours, she had blood on her hands, grass and leaves on her yukata and stuck out of her hair, the sun in her eyes and she was pretty sure-. Kiyomiko silenced her mental complaining when she heard a rather official-sounding knock on the front door of her apartment and she sighed slightly before she sniffed the air. Old paint, wood, a pricy brand of weapon's polish and fresh ink.

"ANBU, huh? Come on in, the door's open. I'm in the bedroom." Kiyomiko called out, not wanting to move from her bed. She knew they would hear her and she was proven right when she heard the door swing open and closed, two sets of footsteps crossing her empty sitting room floor before they came to a stop just inside her bedroom door. "So, what can I do for you boys? Oh wait no, one of you is a girl. Lilac shampoo."

There was an awkward silence as Kiyomiko smirked slightly, almost as if the two ANBU agents were trying to figure out how she knew all that without even looking at them and she chuckled slightly as she sat up, looking them over. She had been right, both of them wore the typical uniform of ANBU and the one on the left was a woman, though she tried her best to hide it, wearing her dark hair in a tight ponytail, her mask painted up like a hawk. The other, the man on the right, was wearing a mask in the shape of a wolf, four black streaks on the brow and two on either cheek while red half-circles had been painted around the eyes. There was something about him that was.. different.. something about the way he looked at her, his eyes lingering on her from behind that mask, and his scent seemed familiar. Walnuts and sun-soaked foliage..It was strange but Kiyomiko let it go, choosing instead to get straight down to business.

"W-we've come to get your statement about the events of last night and this morning." The woman spoke first, trying to keep her voice level and monotone as she'd been trained but obviously she was a little shaken, thinking she'd been so transparent that even a child could see through her armor and mask, though Kiyomiko wasn't normal exactly, so..

"Ah, yeah. That." Kiyomiko sighed with a bored expression as she swung her legs to one side and sat up on the edge of the bed, turning her torso slightly to look at the two uniformed agents, sweeping a delicate hand through her long black hair. "You probably already know everything, so I don't see how I could help. I couldn't sleep after graduation yesterday, so I was out for a walk when I found Iruka in the woods and I tended to his wounds. I didn't want him to know who I was because I'm too young to have received training in medical ninjutsu and I didn't want to get into trouble. After I was done treating him, I ran away and came back here. Though.. When I left the forest, I thought I heard a scream or something. Is everything alright?"

Kiyomiko looked up at the two ANBU agents with an expression of feigned innocence that she knew damn well they could see through, knowing that they could tell she was lying, though only slightly. It would be easier for them to report it this way and it would be easier for her if they didn't know the particulars of her little jaunt through the forest. The more she stayed out of the official reports, the better and her expression seemed to convey that to her masked guests. There was a brief moment of quiet as Kiyomiko just stared up at the masked man and he stared back down at her from behind his strange wolf mask, the woman looking between the two almost as if she were unsure of something.

"Very well." The man nodded finally, his gaze leaving Kiyomiko as he looked down at the tiny notebook in his hands while he wrote down what she'd said. As the two ANBU agents turned to leave, Kiyomiko stood and followed them to the door with an exhausted expression, her bare feet silent across the hardwood floors as she tried to keep up a calm, cool facade.

"When you see the Hokage next, kindly tell him to stop sending ANBU directly to the front door of my apartment." Kiyomiko drawled as she held the door open for the two masked agents as they walked out into the carpeted hall outside her apartment, pausing to look back at her as she spoke. "You should come to the balcony door if you need something again. I don't need my neighbors thinking I'm some kind of mass murderer or something."

"Are you?" The man asked, his voice perfectly monotone as he lifted his notebook and pen as if to write down something terribly important. Kiyomiko blinked at the man for a second before she realized that the man was making a joke.

"You ANBU boys have the _best_ sense of humor!" Kiyomiko chuckled, smirking as she shook her head, the two ANBU agents turning and disappearing down the hallway towards the stairs as Kiyomiko shut the door behind them. She'd had a few run-ins with ANBU and Hunter-nin from other villages before and surprisingly, they _always_ told the best jokes. Then again, maybe that was because there was always the small possibility that they were really serious when they asked you stupid questions like "Are you a mass murderer?" and expected an honest answer.

Feeling a little better now, Kiyomiko turned and walked into her bedroom, flopping back down onto the edge of the bed before she unwrapped the bloodied bandages from her calves and hands with a slight cringe. She'd been trying so hard not to get any of Iruka's blood on her yukata that she completely forgot about the bandages, now soaked through with blood and staining her skin. Great. She had to be at the Academy later that day to be assigned to a team of Genin and she looked like she'd just been running around in the forest and kneeling in blood. Ironic, because she had. Sighing, Kiyomiko tossed the bloodied bandages onto the floor as she reached over and grabbed a wad of tissues, wetting them with the remains of a glass of water on her nightstand. And then there was another knock on the front door of her apartment and Kiyomiko sighed heavily.

"I thought I told you to come in through the balcony door!.. Well, whatever, just come in already. The door is still unlocked." Kiyomiko drawled loud enough for her visitor to hear her as she swiped at the blood on her calves with a frown of disdain. Yeah, that wasn't coming off without a fight. She'd need to take a shower to get all of it off. From across the apartment, Kiyomiko could hear the door open and close, followed by somewhat hesitant footsteps as she frowned, carefully wiping the old, drying blood from her hands as the footsteps stopped just inside her bedroom door, just like last time. "Did you forget something while you were here? Or are you back to tell me more ANBU jokes?"

"Kiyomiko..?"

Kiyomiko's fingers fumbled with the wet, bloody tissues she'd been using to clean her hands and she looked up sharply, staring at the man standing in her doorway with wide silver eyes. It was Iruka, all bandaged up and looking exhausted and shocked as he stared at the blood on her hands and calves, the dried leaves in her hair and the smudges of dust on her yukata. Kiyomiko was suddenly reminded of how she felt when she'd gotten caught picking someone's pocket for the first time, that fear of being revealed.. How she felt right now was startlingly similar and she sat there in perfect silence as a look of shocked revelation dawned over Iruka's features.

"So.. It was you after all.. You were there.." Iruka breathed, his words more of a statement than a question, reflecting the disbelief and shock he felt. Kiyomiko gave a great sigh as she picked up the bloody tissues and old bandages, tossing them away in the wastebin before she stood and faced him with a hard expression.

"What do you want me to say, Iruka? No, it wasn't me, you're imagining things? You hit your head and _magically_ you didn't die of bloodloss and your wound just _happened_ to heal on it's own?" Kiyomiko rolled her eyes as she casually brushed passed Iruka, walking out into the hall as he followed with no small degree of confusion. "I told you not to look. I _told_ you! It would have been easier for you to accept if you thought I was just some random passerby!"

"Kiyomiko-chan, what were you even _doing_ out there?! Don't you know it's dangerous?" Iruka asked as he followed Kiyomiko through an open archway and into a small kitchen, the girl bypassing a small step-stool as she hopped up onto the counter beside the sink, leaning over as she started to wash the blood from her hands. "You could have been killed!"

"Oh, just shut up! I'm too tired to fight with you." Kiyomiko growled under her breath as she grabbed up a hand-towel and started to dry her hands, turning and leaning back against the counter as she looked up at Iruka with an annoyed and irritated expression, something the man had never seen before. She'd spent most of her time at the Academy staring out the window and he'd only ever seen her look emotionless, only ever seen her smile once when she was talking with Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Naruto. "How is he? Naruto, I mean.."

"He's exhausted but not hurt. I had him get checked out at the hospital before I treated him to ramen for breakfast." Iruka's expression softened somewhat before a slight smile appeared on his tired face. Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed slightly. He looked pale and dark bags had started to form under Iruka's eyes, probably from the bloodloss, exhaustion, low blood sugar and maybe even mild shock.. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko turned and opened up one of her cabinets, standing up on her tip-toes to reach into it and retrieve a small, innocuous-looking brown glass vial the size of her thumb, turning and tossing it to Iruka, who gave her a puzzled glance. "What's this?"

"You're pale and exhausted, meaning you're probably anemic and you're likely to faint if you don't take some medication for your bloodloss. Drink what's in that vial. Fair warning, it tastes terrible, just make sure you drink it all." Kiyomiko instructed with a bored drawl as she prepared a glass of milk and held it out to Iruka as he opened the small vial and downed it's contents in one gulp. A second of silence passed before his face turned bright red and he started hacking and coughing, a tiny trace of dark red liquid at the corner of his mouth as he grabbed for the glass of milk. She had to admit, she felt mild satisfaction at that. "It's a boiled down solution of cayenne, beets and other herbs to stimulate blood production."

"Are you trying to kill me now?!" Iruka gasped after polishing off the glass of milk, his voice rough and hoarse from the medicine. An idle smirk appeared on Kiyomiko's impish face as she took the glass and poured more milk, passing it back to him as he slowly recovered.

"Well, if it's any consolation, you should start feeling better in a few minutes." Kiyomiko chuckled as she swept a hand through her long black hair before folding her arms across her chest, Iruka nursing the glass of milk slowly now.

"How do you know all of this, anyway? I mean, first, you tend to my wound in the forest and now you're helping me again.." Iruka's expression fell into a slight frown as he looked at Kiyomiko as she leaned back against the counter, returning his gaze with an unwavering silvery stare. "You're just a kid.. but you didn't lean anything from me, did you?"

"Does that bother you so much?" Kiyomiko asked with a sigh as she turned and left the kitchen, Iruka following after her as she walked out onto the balcony before she hopped up onto the railing, sitting there like a raven upon a perch as her long black hair swayed in the gentle morning breeze. "Did you really think I would? I was only enrolled in the Academy for a week. You said it yourself when you gave me the graduation test. It was merely a formality. I told you yesterday.. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Maybe so.. But I know how lonely you must be.." Iruka sighed, setting down the empty glass on the floor just inside the door as he paused to look into the empty sitting room. It really did look barren, no furniture, nothing covering the dusty white walls, not even a carpet over the floor, there was nothing. Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and shifted her silvery gaze away just as Iruka turned to look back at her. "What Mizuki said earlier.. Some of it was true. The Nine-Tails did kill my parents when I was a child. I couldn't have been much older than you, at the time. I know how painful and how lonely it can be, living alone without anyone to help you.."

"I'm not like you, Iruka." Kiyomiko said quietly, her emotionless expression gradually returning as she looked out over the village, feeling the teacher's eyes on her, seeing his slightly puzzled frown from the corner of her vision. "I don't need anyone to help me. I'm fine on my own. Matter of fact, I prefer it. It's safer that way. That's not to say that everyone is that way. Naruto isn't like me. He thrives when he's around others, he makes friends easily and he needs to know that he's not alone, especially when this is such a critical time for him."

"A critical time..?" Iruka asked before realization flickered in his gaze, Kiyomiko slowly turning to look at him with a blank expression. "You.. heard everything, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." Kiyomiko answered calmly, setting one hand in her lap while another reflexively rested over her heart as her gaze lowered, her normally pale silver eyes darkening a shade. "He needs to know that he's not alone, Iruka. For people.. _like him_.. Human contact is a luxury that many don't receive Often, they're shunned and hated. At the best of times, they're treated no better than a stray dog scrounging for scraps. At worst.. Well.. Let's just say that some of the deepest pits of Hell sound like a vacation in comparison. I'm sure that you've seen it yourself while watching after Naruto, in this very village. After all, it's always the same, no matter where you go.."

"Kiyo..miko..?" Iruka breathed, his dark eyes widening slightly as he gazed at the girl perched upon the railing, holding a hand over her heart before she looked up at him, a flicker of warning in her eyes, wordlessly telling him not to ask what was on his mind. He frowned slightly but he understood, at least. "You're not going to tell me anything, are you? Like who you really are, where you came from or how you know so much?"

"Just now figuring that out?" Kiyomiko countered smoothly as she slid off of the railing and onto the balcony, stretching her arms up and knitting her fingers behind her head with an expression of boredom and disinterest. "Look, all you need to know is that you can never tell anyone what you know about me. To the rest of the world, I'm just one of your students. A quiet, slightly-above-average girl who studied hard and graduated your class. After today, you'll only ever see me in passing and the world will be as it should."

"So, we're just going to act like this never happened?" Iruka's frown deepened slightly as Kiyomiko rolled her eyes and walked back into the empty sitting room, picking up the empty glass from the floor with a smooth motion as she walked towards the kitchen, Iruka following after her still. "Are things really ever that simple?"

"They are in my world." Kiyomiko sighed as she rinsed out the glass at the sink and set it on the counter with a soft click, sounding strangely final as she turned to face Iruka, leveling him with an unwavering silvery stare. "Now, you should probably get going. We have to be at the Academy in two hours and you look like hell."

Without saying anything else, Kiyomiko led Iruka to the door and walked him out, closing the door behind him and locking it once he was out in the hall. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko turned and looked around her empty apartment with a slight flicker of some emotion that didn't belong, though it quickly disappeared as she set her mind to the task at hand. She had to get cleaned up and be at the Academy in two hours to get grouped with two of her classmates and meet her new Jonin teacher. As she set about getting herself cleaned up, Kiyomiko absent-mindedly wondered who she would be paired up with...


	4. Shadows In The Mirror

Here's the rewritten chapter four!

* * *

An hour after Iruka left, Kiyomiko burst into her bedroom and whipped open the closet door, grabbing the first outfit she could find before she turned and tossed it on the foot of her bed beside her knapsack. She was running late! As quickly as she could, Kiyomiko pulled on the outfit and walked to the mirror, grabbing a wooden comb and working it through her hair as deftly as possible, letting it hang down her back while she parted her bangs on either side of her face, securing them with little silver tube-like she yanked on her knapsack, Kiyomiko paused to take in her appearance one last time. Plain black fishnet covered her arms and legs, a sleeveless top with a high cowl covered her torso and obscured the view of the scars on her neck, while she wore a pair of black pants that gathered just below her knees. With that, she wore black zip-up ankle-high shinobi sandals and matching fingerless gloves, her nails painted black once again, her eyes lightly lined with charcoal while her forehead protector was tied low on her hips like a sash.

The outfit seemed so natural, the material light and flexible like she was wearing pajamas and Kiyomiko smirked at the thought as she settled her black canvas knapsack on her back before she trotted out of her apartment, hopping over her balcony railing and landing in the allyway with a gust of cold air. Once her feet were on the ground, Kiyomiko broke into a flat-out run through the village as she made her way towards the Academy. The sun was high overhead and the sky was clear and free of clouds, a gentle warmth hanging on the air and for some reason, Kiyomiko wasn't really bothered by the sunlight as much as she used to be. Maybe she was growing accustomed to it now, she didn't know. When Kiyomiko reached the Academy, she snuck around the crowd of cheerful parents as they wished their children luck and went inside, weaving her way through the students loitering in the halls. Apparently, it was a pretty big deal for an Academy student to become an active Genin and everyone was talking about who their Jonin team-leaders might be.

Kiyomiko saw the door of her classroom ahead and she slowed, her feet sliding across the worn hardwood floors with a soft hiss as she stopped in front of the door, pulling it open with a quiet smile as she stepped inside. Iruka was there, of course, casting her an awkward glance as she brushed passed him but he seemed to be looking better after last night's fiasco, his color returning to his cheeks since he'd taken the medicine she'd given him and had time to clean himself up and, following her earlier direction, he didn't say anything to her as she walked by. Everyone she knew was there, even Naruto had made it, the boy sitting at the front of the class with a bright smile as she passed and she returned his smile with a genuine one of her own. When Kiyomiko took her seat, a few other kids arrived and sat down before Iruka cleared his throat and smiled at the students, everyone falling silent as they looked at him.

"Well, now that we're all here, I can announce the teams. Because of the small number of graduates this year, there will only be seven teams so listen closely!" Iruka announced before he started listing off each team and the three students assigned, one by one. After about the fourth team, Kiyomiko stopped listening, leaning back in her chair and putting her feel up on the tabletop in front of her, tuning out the students' applause and cheers for their friends as she gazed out the window absent-mindedly. "And lastly, Team Seven! Uzumaki Naruto-!"

Kiyomiko's attention was drawn away from the sparrow's nest in the tree outside as she turned back to listen to Iruka with an expression of mild interest. Naruto looked happy and impatient, practically bouncing in his seat as he waited to find out who his teammates would be and Kiyomiko had to admit, he was a funny little kid sometimes. She watched him for a moment, a small smile on her youthful features as she looked at him. He really wasn't that bad.. and for _her_ to admit something like that, it was big news.

"Haruno Sakura-!" Iruka's voice rang through the classroom before it was quickly drown out by Naruto's cheer, the boy jumping up and nearly startling a shy little girl sitting next to him while a girl with long pink hair seemed absolutely mortified, dropping her head into her hands. _Oh ho? What's this? Is Naruto actually crushing on a girl already?_ Kiyomiko smirked, slightly amused by this new information while Iruka continued.

"Uchiha Sasuke-!" Now it was the pink-haired girl's, Sakura's, turn to jump up and cheer while Naruto looked mortified and Kiyomiko chuckled and shook her head. _It would seem that Naruto's love is unrequited._ Naruto recovered quickly and turned, shooting a sharp glare at Sasuke and Kiyomiko almost giggled at the look on the Uchiha's face.

"And since there's an uneven number of graduates, Kiyomiko will also be on Team Seven." Iruka finished and Kiyomiko blinked, a moment of silence hanging in the room. _Wait.. What..?_ So.. She was on the same team with Naruto, which was perfectly fine, but she was also on a team with Sasuke and one of his fangirls?!

"_Eh?!_" A resounding groan echoed through the classroom as all of the students seemed to question Iruka's decision while Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke turned to look back at Kiyomiko with varying expressions of disbelief. And then the whole class began to object, much to Kiyomiko's surprise. All of the girls were complaining about her being on the same team with _Sasuke-kun_, while all of the boys began to complain that she wasn't on _their_ team. Kiyomiko was caught between complete shock and mild laughter and she didn't know which one to act upon, so she just sat silently as everyone looked back and forth between her and Iruka.

"You can't _honestly_ put _her_ on the same team with Sasuke-kun!"

"Yeah, she's a total _demon_! She'll eat him alive!

"Oh, come on! We wanted her on our team!

"No way, she should be on _our_ team! Those moves she did in the training yard were so cool!"

"I'm sorry, class, but this is a _direct assignment_ from the _Hokage_." Iruka explained, an irritated expression on his face as he folded his arms across his chest, all of the students turning to gape at her upon hearing Iruka's words. This time, Kiyomiko gave a mortified groan as she dropped her head into her hands, wishing nothing more than to simply disappear before everyone in her class started to ask too many questions. _Damn Hokage.._. "Even if you somehow managed to convince me, I couldn't change it."

After the class seemed to realize that she wouldn't be answering any questions, Kiyomiko settled back into her boredom and stared out the window, not really looking at anything in particular as the Jonin team-leaders came to collect their newest students. Occasionally, she could catch Sasuke glancing at her while Naruto tried to chat up the Brat-Princess Sakura but it appeared that she only had eyes for Sasuke. After he gave up, Naruto sat down beside Kiyomiko and they talked for a while, seemingly surprising many of their classmates when she actually started _talking_ with Naruto. Time crept forward slowly and one by one, each team began to filter out of the classroom until only two teams remained. It was right about that time, when Naruto was scribbling on the chalkboard out of boredom, that Kiyomiko detected the scent of summer rain and the sweet snap of electricity. Her mind was instantly alert, though her posture didn't change at all, her pupil-less silver eyes scanning the room for any signs. Kakashi was nearby!

There was no sign of him anywhere, though Kiyomiko didn't relax for an instant, her guard firmly up as she slowly stood, trying to act as casual as possible as she walked into the isle between the rows of tables and stretched, raising her arms and knitting her fingers together behind her head with a contented sigh. From the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko noticed the vent in the wall just above the chalkboard, the grate that had always been closed, presumably painted shut but it was open now.. Though the air-conditioning wasn't on. It was a relatively temperate day in mid-spring with a gentle breeze wafting through the open windows, there would be no need for air-conditioning. So.. That's where Kakashi was hiding then. Kiyomiko smirked inwardly as she casually walked over to one of her classmates sitting in the back of the room, patiently waiting for his team leader.

"Shino.." Kiyomiko whispered just loud enough for him to hear as she leaned back against the table, facing away from the chalkboard as she looked at him with a slight smile. He looked up at her with what she could only assume was a puzzled expression, half of his face covered by the high collar of his jacket and his eyes covered by sunglasses, but she thought she saw an eyebrow quirk slightly so she continued. "Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"It's possible." Shino replied in his usual monotone fashion and Kiyomiko's smile widened slightly. In the last seven days that she'd attended Konoha's Academy, she had come to enjoy Shino's company a great deal because he was similar to her in that he hardly ever spoke unless he had something important to say and he was always calm and collected. He was kind of strangely comforting that way and she was pretty sure he felt the same way about her, so she just assumed they were friends. "What do you need, Kiyo?"

"You see that vent over the chalkboard? The one that everyone thought was painted shut?" Kiyomiko began in a hushed tone, watching Shino's slight movement as he looked where she directed, the light glinting off of the lenses of his sunglasses as he turned. From behind her, she was sure that she could feel two sets of eyes on her. One was almost assuredly Kakashi while the other.. Sasuke. She could feel the curious-but-icy stare on her back. _Dammit_. Sweeping a delicate hand through her long black hair, Kiyomiko remained the picture of calm as she continued. "I think someone is behind that wall, watching us. Do you think you could send one or two of your kikaichu bugs on a little recon mission?"

"Hn." Shino nodded in reply as he calmly set his hands on the table in front of him, Kiyomiko grinning slightly as she sat down on the bench next to him, two small black beetles appearing from beneath Shino's collar before they took flight, heading straight towards the vent. She knew about the Aburame Clan's techniques, how they allowed certain kinds of insects to live _within_ their bodies in exchange for being able to command and control the bugs and that didn't seem all that strange to her. Then again, she had something living within her as well, so maybe she was biased. For a few minutes, Kiyomiko made pointless conversation with Shino and he would nod occasionally, understanding her tactics as they talked about the weather and a few local shops before Shino's bugs returned, crawling onto the boy's finger and scuttling under his sleeve.

"Well?" Kiyomiko asked, her voice hushed again as she leaned forward, resting her chin on the table in front of her as if she were bored. Shino was silent for a moment and Kiyomiko could only assume that he was conversing with the insects that nested inside his body and she waited patiently for the results.

"It would seem that you are correct." Shino began quietly, placing his hands in his lap again as he turned just slightly to look at Kiyomiko. "There is a small room behind that wall and two men are inside, holding a conversation while one of them watches us through the vent. They did not seem to notice my insects or if they did, they did not seem to mind them."

"Probably the Hokage and Kakashi again." Kiyomiko sighed to herself as she sat up and stretched, Shino looking at her with a curious, again she was assuming, expression but he didn't question her. He probably figured that Kiyomiko would tell him in her own time. After she finished stretching, Kiyomiko lowered her arms to her sides and rested the tip of her index finger against the back of Shino's hand, funneling a small amount of chakra into him with a mysterious, fox-like smile. "A gift for your insects, hm? You're always telling me how they're drawn to my chakra, so think of this as a little treat. Thank them for me."

"Hn." Shino nodded once again as Kiyomiko stood and walked to the front of the classroom with a bored expression, giving a little hop to sit upon the surface of the first table, folding her arms across her chest as she watched over Naruto as he continued to draw and scribble various childlish obscenities on the chalkboard, completely oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. After a minute or two, the door opened and a pretty woman with long black hair and startlingly kind red eyes walked in, calling for Shino, Kiba and the shy girl, Hinata, leaving only Team Seven behind.

And then, Kiyomiko sat back and waited.. And waited.. And waited.. Until the sun was beginning to set and the room was lit by a gentle golden glow. Naruto had gotten bored of drawing on the chalkboard and was now looking around for something more interesting to do. Sakura was trying to sit closer and closer to Sasuke without seeming to obvious but she failed miserably at being covert as she would fidget every few minutes, twiddling her thumbs with a bright blush across her cheeks. Sasuke just sat there, being his usual brooding self, sometimes glancing over at Kiyomiko with a blank gaze though she knew he was curious about her and she ignored him completely, paying more attention to Naruto as she started to regale the boy with some simple sleight of hand, coin tricks that she had learned in the past and she smirked when even Sasuke seemed confused by some of her tricks, though Sakura started glaring daggers at her for getting more attention from Sasuke than Sakura had all day. Probably all year.

After another half an hour, Naruto jumped up, after spending a record thre minutes sitting down, and ran over to the chalkboard, grabbing up one of the well-worn erasers before he started to drag Iruka's chair towards the door. Kiyomiko quirked a brow as she watched him, sitting cross-legged on the tabletop nearest the door as Naruto hopped up onto the chair with a playful smile on his face, his bright blue eyes glittering with mischief. The blonde boy snickered as he opened the sliding door just enough to wedge the eraser between the door and the frame and Kiyomiko grinned, realizing what he was doing. He was setting a trap! Sakura seemed to realize this as well and she started to scold him in her usual imperious fashion, which was summarily ignored, as Naruto jumped down from the chair and put it back behind Iruka's desk. Kiyomiko couldn't help her chuckle as she watched. Kakashi wasn't stupid, she knew that for a fact from previous encounters, he would be able to see the eraser right away. The real question was.. Would he catch the eraser or walk into the trap willingly?

Almost as soon as she thought that, a hand appeared on the door and the room went perfectly silent as Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke waited breathlessly to see who would get caught in the childish trap. Kiyomiko had already heard him coming, detected his scent growing stronger as he approached and she'd been watching the door for a while, smirking slightly when Kakashi slid the door open and stepped inside, directly into the path of the falling eraser. _So, he walked into it willingly. Interesting_. The small, dusty eraser plopped onto the top of his head, covering him in a fine cloud of white powder before it clattered to the hardwood floor and skittered away. A few seconds passed before Naruto burst into laughter, tears appearing in his eyes as he gripped his sides, and Sakura began to apologize profusely as if she could have done something to stop it, while Sasuke just looked completely disenchanted by Kakashi. When Kakashi was done evaluating the others, his gaze fell on Kiyomiko to find her smirking slightly, _knowingly_, her arms folded across her chest as she watched him with a calculating silvery stare.

"Well, as first impressions go.." Kakashi began, dusting the chalk powder from his hair before he returned the old eraser to the ledge on the chalkboard, the room falling silent as he turned to look at his four newest students with an exhausted expression. "I hate you."

There was a sudden cloud of gloom over Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke while Kiyomiko just rolled her eyes and slid off of the tabletop, her feet silent across the floor as she walked over to stand beside Naruto, her arms still folded across her chest. Sasuke soon followed as Kakashi gestured for them to follow him and Kiyomiko stayed close to Naruto, almost protectively, though no one else seemed to notice this as Kakashi led his newest team out of the classroom, up a flight of stairs to the second floor and outside onto a covered walkway that connected the Academy to the Hokage's tower. Leaning against the railing, Kakashi gestured for Kiyomiko and the others to line up in front of him and they did, though Kiyomiko mostly ignored him by hopping up onto the metal railing, swinging her feet like a little kid.

"So, how about we take turns and introduce ourselves?" Kakashi suggested, his drawling tone implying that he'd rather be doing something else as he started to list off on his fingers. "Such as your names, likes and dislikes, hobbies and dreams.."

"Why don't you start, Sensei? I mean.. You _were_ late.." Sakura replied, sounding like her usual matter-of-fact self as Kiyomiko allowed her eyes to wander as if she were bored, scanning her surroundings. The sun was just beginning to set and the village was covered by an orange glow, the clouds had disappeared and the sky was a gradient of deep blue to fiery orange from east to west. She could smell cooking food and tea nearby, almost everyone in the village preparing their evening meals while a wind chime twinkled from the nearby tower where the Hokage resided. It was actually kind of soothing.

"Alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a few things and I dislike a lot of things, I have a couple of hobbies and I don't feel like sharing my dreams with you." Kakashi answered coolly, leaving Sakura and Naruto stunned while Kiyomiko just sighed and shook her head as Kakashi pointed to Naruto. "Your turn."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, I hate the three minutes it takes the ramen to cook and my hobbies are tasting different kinds of ramen! My dream is to become the next Hokage and have everyone in the village recognize me!" Naruto grinned happily, practically humming with enthusiasm as he adjusted and re-adjusted his forehead protector. Kiyomiko couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her impish features as she watched him. He was an interesting little kid, after all.

"Next."

"My name is Haruno Sakura and I like.." Sakura paused to glance at Sasuke with a little smile and Kiyomiko nearly gagged, practically seeing the hearts in her eyes. "My hobbies are.." She trailed off again and Kiyomiko mentally finished with '_thinking of Sasuke, dreaming of Sasuke and stalking Sasuke like a creep! Teehee!_' while Sakura poked the tips of her index fingers together in a shy manner before her mood took a total turn and her face turned into a sickened expression as she looked in Naruto and Kiyomiko's direction. "And I hate Naruto and Kiyomiko."

"Alright.. Next." Kakashi sighed as he pointed to Sasuke, ignoring Naruto's crestfallen pout completely. Kiyomiko just cast a fox-like smirk in Sakura's direction, casuing the pink-haired girl to pale a shade. It was the same smirk that Kiyomiko had worn when she'd been playing with Sasuke's mind a few days ago and she almost laughed at Sakura's expression. That little prissy brat probably thought that she was some kind of soul-eating demon!

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have any likes, I hate many things, my hobby is training and my dream is more like a goal, and that goal is to restore my clan and kill a certain man." Sasuke finished speaking and there was total silence for a few moments as everyone but Kiyomiko turned to look at Sasuke with varying expressions of surprise. Though, Kiyomiko's expression had fallen slightly, her pale silver eyes lowered to the concrete tile floor, knowing exactly what Sasuke was talking about.. But he couldn't know that..

"And lastly.."

"Pass." Kiyomiko gave a bored sigh as she slipped off of the railing, sweeping a hand through her long black hair as all eyes turned to look at her. She supposed she was acting a little childish at the moment but she didn't want to be here anymore. She was tired, hungry and uneasy. She just wanted to be left alone for now and these stupid introductions were just a waste of time anyway.

"You can't pass during introductions!" Sakura squawked indignantly. Naruto seemed surprised but not angry, Sasuke was unreadable as usual and Kakashi looked like he was getting a headache. For the second time that day, Kiyomiko felt a little twinge of satisfaction at that, though she didn't show it. "It's against the rules!"

"Well.." Kiyomiko paused, bringing one hand up to touch her chin with a curled index finger as if she were thinking, looking surprisingly girly, though otherwise completely calm. "You guys know my name, right..?"

"Well, yeah but-!"

"Then that's all you really need to know about me." Kiyomiko replied calmly as her pale silver eyes hardened as a warning despite the startlingly friendly smile on her youthful, impish face. Naruto seemed unaffected by it while Sakura gave a small squeak, Sasuke seemed uneasy and even Kakashi, to some degree, seemed to understand the warning in her tone as she continued. "_Ne_?"

"Alright, alright. Leave it alone." Kakashi interrupted with a sigh, holding up a hand to stop Sakura from objecting any further before he looked down at his wrist as if he were looking at a watch, which must have been invisible because Kiyomiko couldn't see one. "Alright, I want all of you to meet me at Training Ground Six tomorrow morning at dawn. Oh.. And you should all skip breakfast.. Unless you don't mind puking in front of your new teammates."

With that, Kakashi left, disappearing with a soft pop, leaving the group of students behind. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke seemed apprehensive but Kiyomiko just rolled her eyes before she waved to Naruto and walked to the edge of the roof, stuffing her hands into her pockets before she took a step and dropped from the second-story ledge, landing on her feet easily as her new teammates gawked at her from above. _So, training at dawn, huh? That seems familiar._ Taking a little detour on her way back to her apartment, Kiyomiko stopped by the market to stock up on any supplies she would need. If this training was anything like what she'd endured under her father's tutelage, she would need to beef up her first-aid kit.

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko woke the next morning well before dawn, sitting up and rolling out of bed with a determined expression on her face, thinking only of Kakashi's "training". Last night, she had remembered where she'd heard Kakashi's name before and she'd found him listed in the Bingo Book that she'd stolen from some low level syndicate lackey some years ago. Copy-Ninja Kakashi... He had Sharingan.. That had been quite a shock. However, after recovering from that shock, Kiyomiko had committed to memory _every_ detail written about him, which hadn't been much but at least she was a little more prepared now. She was curious to see how a Jonin like him could _possibly_ train a group of thirteen year olds, though given the fact that he was a Konoha Jonin, something her father had warned her of before, she could bet that it probably wasn't what she was expecting. She would have to stay on her toes.

After Kiyomiko had bathed and brushed her teeth, making sure to use scentless soaps, she walked back into her bedroom and dressed silently. Training Ground Six was a forest area and since she would be out-matched going head-to-head with a Jonin, she could have to rely on the good old hide-and-seek tactics. She would need to blend in and when she looked at herself in the mirror on the back of the closet door, she smirked. She was wearing full body black fishnet, a pair of wood-brown shorts that gathered just below the knee, an olive-green dress that hugged her hips and ended at mid-thigh, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a wood-brown sash with matching brown fingerless gloves and zip-up ankle-high shinobi sandals. Over all of that, Kiyomiko wore her forehead protector around her neck like a scarf, covering her scars. Her long black hair had been pulled back into two long, tight braids that hung down to the swell of her hips, her messy bangs tamed and smoothly framing her impish face.

Picking up her new olive-green canvas knapsack, Kiyomiko packed away her beefed-up first-aid kit and a large collection of weapons, explosive tags and any survival gear that she deemed useful in any situation. She may not need them but it was better to be safe than sorry. When her pack was full, Kiyomiko picked up her fan and slipped it into the wood-brown cotton sash around her waist, quickly checking her belongings one more time to make sure she had everything she needed. With a nod of approval, Kiyomiko swung her knapsack onto her back and fastened the third strap around her waist so that it wouldn't come off with a lot of movement and she couldn't help the fox-like smirk that crept across her impish features when she felt the little thrill of excitement. She was going up against Kakashi again. It was a second chance to prove herself, something she never thought she'd get. However, Naruto would be there.. She had to protect him, as well. She couldn't lose control.

When she was ready, Kiyomiko left her bedroom, walking passed the archway to her little kitchen and she scoffed when she remembered Kakashi's instructions to skip breakfast. She wouldn't need to bring any food with her, the forest was always full of things to eat if you knew where to look, which she did. And besides, it's not like she hadn't skipped one or two meals before. She'd be fine. Walking out onto her balcony, Kiyomiko's pupil-less pale silver eyes narrowed as she scanned the horizon. The weather would be clear today, no clouds, which meant shadows would be that much darker in the forests, and the light fog that clung to the air told her that there would be little wind today, though that could always change. The sun hadn't even begun to lighten the horizon yet and Kiyomiko smirked as she swung her legs over the railing and dropped into the dark allyway below. She had plenty of time to get ready.

When Kiyomiko arrived at Training Ground Six, she folded her arms across her chest and looked around at the setting. It was still well before dawn and she was the only one there. That was good. That meant she had plenty of time to learn her surroundings. The area around the meeting place was a decent sized field with forest all around it and she could smell fresh water nearby. Raising her hands to her chest, Kiyomiko formed a seal and there was a collection of soft pops as five clones appeared, all six identical girls smirking slightly. Everything went quiet again as the girls split up and searched the forest, memorizing the layout as they scouted the area for hiding places, food and water sources, everything she would need to survive should she need to stay for a long while. Though she doubted it would be necessary, it was best to be prepared. As the eastern horizon began to lighten, Kiyomiko unsummoned all of her clones and reviewed their knowledge with a knowing smirk before she turned and stalked back through the forest towards the meeting place, her mind already working on tactical advantages and strategies.

When she returned to the meeting place in the field, the sun was just peeking over the horizon and Kiyomiko flopped down into the grass, sitting cross-legged with a mysterious smirk as she closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings. A few minutes after sunrise, Kiyomiko could hear three sets of footsteps approaching and soon Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke arrived, seemingly surprised that she was there already. Sasuke was wide awake while Naruto and Sakura were still half-asleep, mumbling an exchange of greetings before they collapsed into the grass next to Kiyomiko as she opened her eyes, noticing Sasuke staring at her. Though, he quickly looked away when she quirked a brow.

An hour passed quietly as the four Genin sat around in a circle, their backs to each other as they looked in the four general directions, though it seemed as though Naruto and Sakura had fallen asleep again so she kept an eye on their directions as well. About two hours after sunrise, Kiyomiko stood up and turned just seconds before there was a soft pop and Kakashi appeared, walking up to the four Genin with an apologetic smile. Before he had a chance to say anything, Kiyomiko gently shook Naruto awake while she just tapped Sakura on the shoulder, both of them sitting bolt-upright before they turned to see Kakashi, Sasuke standing as well.

"_You're late!_" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison and Kiyomiko barely managed to cover her ears in time, wincing slightly while Kakashi gave a nervous chuckle as he looked down at the three angry students, plus the slightly annoyed-though-vastly-unemotional Kiyomiko.

"Well, I was on my way here but a black cat crossed my path and-!"

"Don't bother trying to lie if your excuse is that terrible." Kiyomiko sighed as she swept a lock of hair out of her eyes before raising her arms up and knitting her fingers behind her head. As always, she was the very picture of calm and Kakashi sweatdropped, rubbing the back of his head with an awkward chuckle.

"Alright, let's get down to business then, shall we?" Kakashi quickly changed the subject, his tone turning a little more serious as he reached into his pocket and held up three small silver bells hung from red silk cords, making sure that everyone saw them. "The goal in this test is to get the bells away from me before lunch time. If you don't get the bells, you'll get tied to a stump and I'll eat your lunch in front of you."

"But sensei, there are only three bells!" Sakura spoke up with an expression of confusion, not noticing Kiyomiko's idle smirk. "There's four of us!"

"It's a ploy to pit us against one another." Kiyomiko interjected calmly, folding her arms across her chest as all eyes turned to look at her. "It's a cute little way of saying that someone has to sacrifice themself for the others to succeed. I'm assuming that there's a penalty for those who choose to sacrifice themself, some way of disqualifying them, _sensei_?"

"As always, you're far too observant for your own good, Kiyomiko." Kakashi answered with a slight drawl, tying the three bells to his belt as all eyes returned to him. "However, you are correct. The punishment, in this case, is that anyone who _doesn't_ get a bell is sent back to the Academy for another full term."

_Oooh, if looks could kill_. Kiyomiko smirked slightly at her teammeates, seeing Naruto and Sasuke's faces turn from shock to panic to anger to determination all in the space of thirty seconds or less while Sakura just stayed at shocked the whole time. Kiyomiko just shook her head, glad she was standing behind them all as she watched Kakashi evaluating expressions, her eyebrow quirked when his gaze landed on her. Time seemed to slow somewhat as everything went quiet, the two of them staring at one another as if they were calculating the moves to a game, trying to discern the other's intent. As always, her expression betrayed nothing but a mild amusement as his eyes took in her attire. _That's right, Kakashi. I'm wearing color. Can you guess the special occasion?_

"Well, now that you all seem to be motivated now.. well, _almost_ all of you.." Kakashi looked back at the rest of the team, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looking up at him with determined expressions while Kiyomiko just looked bored. "You know the rules, now here's another tip. If you want the bells, you'll have to come at me with intent to kill, or else you'll never get them and you'll be sent back to the Academy. Now, when I say-"

Before Kakashi could even finish speaking, he was interrupted by Naruto as the boy made a grab for the bells too early and Kiyomiko dropped her head into her hands with a soft sigh. It happened fast, so fast that she doubted Sakura and Sasuke had been able to see it but all of a sudden, Kakashi had grabbed Naruto's hand and twisted it into a lock behind the boy's back to restain him, a kunai pointed directly at the back of his head. It wasn't threatening, it was enlightening, Kakashi was trying to prove a point and Kiyomiko shook her head. Naruto could really be an idiot sometimes. Attacking someone like Kakashi head-on wouldn't ever work by itself, you needed other factors in play as well.

"Now now, don't be so hasty... I haven't even said 'start' yet." Kakashi spoke to Naruto, his voice taking on a dangerous tone that sent a thrill down Kiyomiko's mind, her pale silver eyes locking on the Jonin with a flicker of some unknown emotion in their depths while the rest of her face remained dead calm. As soon as she heard it, it was gone as Kakashi relaxed some and released Naruto. "Alright.. Ready.. and.. _start!_"

It was time to get her head in the game and Kakashi gave the signal, causing Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke to scatter through the forest, hiding themselves exactly as they had been taught in the Academy, all of them finding some of the more obvious hiding places that Kiyomiko had scouted out earlier and summarily ignored given how exposed they really were. Kiyomiko was the last one left, standing in the field with Kakashi as he just looked at her with a quirked brow. Kiyomiko just heaved a great sigh as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh my.. I wonder where they went.." Kiyomiko drawled unenthusiastically as she turned and calmly walked towards the treeline, not even trying to mask her movements as Kakashi watched her. She heard a sigh from the Jonin and she smirked inwardly, letting the man believe that she was just being lazy. As soon as Kiyomiko reached the treeline, she walked behind a bush and intentionally stepped on a stick, breaking it clean in half with a resounding _crack_. "Oops."

"You know.. You really should try a little harder!" Kakashi sighed as he walked over to where Kiyomiko had been half-hiding, looking down at her as she sat at the base of a tree, in plain view where a few rays of golden sunlight landed on her. And then something changed. She smirked up at him, the same smirk she'd had on her face when she'd jumped from a cliff to get away from him and his eyes widened slightly. As soon as he realized what was wrong, Kiyomiko suddenly disappeared with a soft pop. Kakashi had been following a clone the whole time.

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko chuckled inwardly as she watched her first clone disappear, leaving Kakashi in a surprised silence when he realized that she had fooled him. Instead of being at the meeting place herself, Kiyomiko had sent a clone in her place, keeping herself hidden in the surrounding forest the whole time. There was no doubt in her mind that Kakashi had also planted his own clones in the forest, however, so she still had to be careful. She knew she would never be able to go up against Kakashi on her own, not when she couldn't use her full abilities to fight, so she had carefully plotted out a course of action that was far less obvious and involved more subtle measures. She excelled at mind-games, after all. First, however, she needed to locate her teammates and enlist their help, since their futures were on the line as well, not just hers, however she'd need a distraction in order to move freely, without Kakashi's clones finding her.

Turning to the identical girl beside her, Kiyomiko pointed south and the clone nodded before it grinned and took off, tearing through the forest as noticeably as she dared, though not so noticeably that her plan was obvious. While her clone ran one way, acting as bait, Kiyomiko turned and travelled north, keeping to the shadows as she moved in perfect silence. The forest was her home, she knew how to keep herself hidden. Since she needed to get her teammates co-operation for all of them to succeed, Kiyomiko first located Sasuke, as much as she loathed the idea of speaking to him. Creeping through the tall brush like a seasoned pro, Kiyomiko spotted the Uchiha perched in a tree, half-hidden by the leaves as he _almost_ completely masked his presence. He wasn't too bad, really, he just had _such_ a terrible attitude. In one fluid, silent motion, Kiyomiko jumped up into the tree behind Sasuke and quickly cupped a hand over his mouth so he wouldn't shout and blow their cover.

"Sasuke, shut up and stop fighting, it's me!" Kiyomiko whispered in his ear, but it was no good, he was struggling too much and she let a barely-audible growl escape her before she shoved the boy back against the trunk of the tree, turning his face towards her and his eyes widened with realization. Once he had settled, Kiyomiko removed her hand from Sasuke's mouth and moved back a step, still crouched on the branch with him. "We need to-"

"How did you even get behind me?!" Sasuke hissed angrily as he cut her off and Kiyomiko rolled her eyes, hearing Naruto's voice nearby. Kakashi was still standing in the field while Naruto stood at the top of a tree and challenging the Jonin to a fair fight, as if he stood a chance while Sasuke just glared at Kiyomiko. "What did you even want?!"

"Hate to break it to you, Oh Mighty Prince of Stalkers, but you'll never get those bells by yourself. We need to work together." Kiyomiko sighed, keeping her voice barely above a whisper, somehow finding it particularly bothersome to speak at all as Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "All of us. You, me, Sakura and Naruto, unless you would rather go back to the Academy for another four years."

"You're _joking_, right?" Sasuke looked as if he'd just been slapped in the face, his voice rising slightly though it was covered by the sound of Naruto's cry of pain as the blonde bou was practically punted into the river. Kiyomiko nearly facepalmed at that. "You _actually_ think I'd work together with _you three_? You'd only slow me down, now get lost before you blow my cover!"

"Whatever." Kiyomiko sighed as she shook her head and swung down from the tree, letting herself dangle for a second before she silently dropped into the tall brush, disappearing from Sasuke's view as she crept farther away from the pig-headed boy, sinking into the shadows. So, Sasuke was a dolt, no surprise there. It was time to see how receptive Sakura was to the idea and Kiyomiko crept through the bushes silently as she made her way over to where Sakura had been hiding a few minutes ago.

"Oie, Sasuke, you idiot! That was too much! You killed him!" Kiyomiko froze for a split second upon hearing Naruto's panicked shouting before she sniffed at the air for the scent of blood. Nope, nothing. No one had been killed but Sasuke had probably just given away his postion, which meant he would be running through the forest any second. And with any luck, so would Sakura while she tried to follow him.

_Time to play the waiting game._ Kiyomiko sunk into the shadows inside a particularly dense grove of trees and she closed her eyes, waiting, listening. She could hear Sasuke's panicked breathing as he ran away from her but she could also hear someone else. The scent of strawberries and paper reached her nose as the rustling in the forest brush grew louder and at the last second, Kiyomiko's eyes snapped open and she reached out, grabbing onto Sakura's arm and yanking her back, cupping a hand over the girl's mouth as she pressed an index finger over her own. Sakura's bright green eyes widened for a moment, realization flashing in their depths before she nodded once, relaxing slightly. Before she said a word to the girl, Kiyomiko summoned up three more clones of herself, the clones transforming into likenesses of Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto before they tore off into the forest in opposite directions, acting as decoys once again.

"Did you see Sasuke?!" Sakura breathed in a panicked whisper as she looked around wildly, Kiyomiko turning to face the girl with an exhausted expression. She was really starting to get annoyed with how predictable her teammates were getting. "I have to find him!"

"Sakura, forget about Sasuke for a minute, will you? He's already on the opposite side of the clearing." Kiyomiko sighed as she tried to talk to the single-minded girl. "I already spoke to him. He won't listen to reason, so I'm hoping that you'll be intellegent enough to hear me out. I have a plan that will get _all_ of us those bells, but we have to work togeth-"

"Sasuke's on the other side of the clearing?! Oh, I hope he's alright!" Sakura interrupted Kiyomiko with a shaky nod before she turned and started running off, leaving Kiyomiko standing there in a stunned silence. It was official. She hated that girl. A gentle breeze rustled through the foliage around her and Kiyomiko allowed a small sigh to escape her as her head and shoulders dropped in mild defeat. This really was pathetic. To think that she had to put up with-! No, it wouldn't do to get upset now. She still had one teammate left. Naruto. She was sure that, while he may not understand at first, he'd at least hear her out.

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko's last three clones popped out of existence and memories flooded into her mind. Kakashi had destroyed all three of them in one fell swoop, seemingly knowing that they were copies, and he was closing in on her position, his scent growing stronger as he got closer. Whirling on her heel, Kiyomiko ran as fast as her legs could carry her, running so fast that her dainty feet barely touched the ground, her long black hair a mere streak of shadow within the sunlit forest. As she ran, she heard Sakura's voice in the distance before the girl's scream pierced the forest calm like a blade and then a body fell into the dirt. _Tch! You fell for an obvious trick, idiot!_

As soon as all sound died down, Kiyomiko brought her hands to her chest and summoned four more clones, all of them identical copies of herself, sending them tearing off into the forest. She couldn't make it to Naruto now, Kakashi was too close, she needed to get to the river! Pacing her breathing, Kiyomiko ran out of the treeline and into a flat field. It was risky but she was confident that she was faster! She could smell Kakashi's scent getting stronger still, mingling with the scent of fresh water and damp earth and Kiyomiko started forming seals before she even reached the water. She could hear someone behind her and she allowed a small trickle of chakra to seep into her legs and quicken her pace as she ran. She was cutting it close!

As soon as the river came into view, Kiyomiko jumped onto the water's surface as she waited, seeing one of her clones behind her, running into a small clearing nearby to act as bait, a kunai drawn as it looked around wildly, chest rising and falling as it panted for breath, though Kiyomiko knew it was all an act. Everything went perfectly still as Kiyomiko held her breath, waiting, her pale silver eyes sharp as they rested on the ground, noticing the subtle tremor that disturbed some of the pebbles near the feet of her clone. Kakashi was coming from below.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" Kakashi's hand shot out from the earth beneath the clone, grabbing it's feet and dragging it into the earth while he jumped out of the soil, leaving the clone buried neck-deep in the ground like a potted plant. As soon as Kakashi was free of the earth, he stood over the clone with a bored expression as he folded his arms across his chest. "I told you. Try harder, Kiyomiko."

"You mean.. Like this?" The clone grinned suddenly and disappeared with a soft pop, leaving behind an empty whole in the ground. Kakashi blinked for a second before he turned around, seemingly sensing her presence as she stood atop the surface of the water with a particularly peaceful expression. Of course, she would be peaceful. She was in her element again, her hands brought up over her chest, her seals already formed.

"Suiton: Ryufujin!" Kiyomiko's voice echoed through the quiet mid-morning air as the water beneath her feet rippled slightly before everything went perfectly silent, her pale silver eyes steadily staring at Kakashi as he stood still.

"Is.. that it..?" Kakashi seemed a little disenchanted, an eyebrow raised as he stared at Kiyomiko, her delicate hands still forming the last seal, as if she were concentrating on something. "So, your technique is a bluff..?"

"No, it's not." Kiyomiko said simply as a flock of birds suddenly took flight, startled by something as the silence was replaced by a gentle rumbling that gradually grew in volume. Kakashi's training seemed to kick in as the ground inside the clearing began to vibrate and tremble and he stood on guard, seemingly ready for anything as he cautiously looked around.

Ready for anything.. except what happened next. Just as the rumbling reached it's pinnacle, a giant torrent of raging water erupted from the hole in the ground, the same hole he'd buried Kiyomiko's clone in, a few mere feet behind him. The water towered over him, at least twenty feet high, something shimmering within it, as it twisted and turned, curling around itself as it bared down on him but just as it was about to strike, a bell rang from somewhere nearby and Kiyomiko sighed, the jutsu veering away at the last second, curling around and slowing as it washed over the trees and brush, doing very little damage.

"Well... That sucks.." Kiyomiko sighed calmly as she walked back onto land, raising her arms up and folding her hands together behind her head as she turned to walk back towards the center of the training grounds. Kakashi stood still for a moment, watching her go, and he was just about to follow when he paused, seeing something glittering in the sunlight behind him. Turning back to where Kiyomiko's jutsu had hit, Kakashi knelt down to see dozens upon dozens of tiny needles sticking out of the ground, the trees, the bushes, _everything_, so small that they had been impossible to see until the water had drained back into the river. "And here I was just about to get a bell.."

Kakashi looked closer, carefully plucking one of the tiny needles from the soil at his feet to examine it but the delicate needle was so fragile that it broke the second his fingers touched it, feeling cold to the touch. Drawing his hand away, Kakashi looked down at his fingertips with some amount of confusion before his eyes widened, looking at the glittering needles that surrounded him, slowly melting away in the mid-morning sun. All of the needles were made out of ice. Kakashi looked over his shoulder at Kiyomiko's retreating form as she disappeared into the shadowed forest and he sighed. There weren't many shinobi in the world who could create ice and even less of those shinobi were fresh out of the Academy.

-(o.o)-

When Kiyomiko walked back into the field where she was supposed to meet up with the rest of her team, she paused for a moment before she sighed, her shoulders dropping in exhaustion, seeing Naruto tied up to a log while Sasuke and Sakura sat on the ground on either side of him with varying expressions of dispair. Folding her arms across her chest, Kiyomiko walked over to them and hopped up onto the stump that Naruto was tied to, sitting down on it, cross-legged. Sasuke and Sakura turned to cast side-long glances at her but Kiyomiko said absolutely nothing, not even looking at them as her chilly demeanor clearly said that she was mildly annoyed with them. Served them right. No one said a word until Kakashi arrived a moment later, seemingly recovered from his shock at finding the ice-needles.

"Well? Now what?" Sakura asked with a sigh as she stood up beside Naruto, Sasuke following suit despite his exhausted expression, the boy stuffing his hands into his pockets and glaring at just about anything that moved. Something must have pissed him off and Sakura was looking particularly timid and Kiyomiko took a rather small amount of comfort in that for a while.

"Now.. Well.." Kakashi began, folding his arms across his chest as he looked over the four Genin, his expression and his posture hardening to reflect a large degree of seriousness. _Here it comes._ "Now you should all quit trying to become shinobi!"

"_What?!_" Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke shouted in unison, their expressions varying from indignation to complete shock while Kiyomiko just sighed, waiting for the Jonin's predictable rant to come to an end with an expression of masked annoyance.

"Only _one_ of you understood the true goal of this test!" Kakashi said, his voice cold as he glared at the three genin in front of him. Kiyomiko understood that he wasn't trying to frighten them, this was just how things worked in the real world and her teammates would never know that since they had spent their entire lives in blissful ignorance in this peace-drunk village. It was almost amusing.

"Wasn't the goal of the test to get the bells?!" Sakura cried, her expression incredulous, her eyebrows almost reaching her hairline as she gaped up at Kakashi, looking like a fish out of water as she tried to wrap her brain around what was going on.

"Yeah!" Naruto chimed in, glaring daggers at Kakashi as he struggled against the ropes that bound him to the stump with a renewed fury. "How are we supposed to know if there was another goal if you didn't tell us?!"

"Well, let me enlighten you! The true goal of this excersize was to test your abilities to _work together_!" Kakashi countered, his tone harsh enough that the three Genin flinched while Kiyomiko just continued to look bored, waiting for the long-winded rant to end so she could just go home and take some headache medicine. "_Teamwork_ is the most important thing to remember when you're on a mission!"

"Teamwork?!" Sakura blinked, her green eyes going wide while Sasuke looked like he was about to be physically ill, Naruto at a complete loss for words while Kiyomiko just shook her head.

"Only one of you even made the _slightest_ effort to work with the others!" Kakashi continued, turning his glare at Sasuke. "Sasuke, you thought you were so much better than everyone else that you thought anyone trying to work with you would just slow you down! Sakura, you were too busy running around and trying to find Sasuke that you completely forgot about your other teammates when they were in danger, _right_ under your nose! Naruto, you were just acting on your own and letting your emotions control you, allowing yourself to get caught up in obvious traps!"

"Kiyomiko is the _only_ one who actually understood the point of this test! She got here _two hours_ early and scouted out the area beforehand to come up with a plan before she even knew what the test was about!" Kakashi continued and Kiyomiko sighed, seeing the eyes of her teammates widen at Kakashi's words. "She was the only one who made any effort to work as a team! She approached you, Sasuke and Sakura, but both of you turned her down without even _listening_ to her plan! Which is sad, really, because she was going to sacrifice herself so the three of you didn't have to go back to the Academy!"

"Oie, oie.. Can we not focus on me so much? I'd rather not have any unwanted attention, thanks." Kiyomiko drawled as she gave Kakashi a dismissive wave, completely unaffected by his harsh tone as Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked up at her with wide eyes. "I mean, yeah, I was going to pass on this test and let everyone else keep a bell.. but I guess that really didn't work out, huh?"

"A _little_ more enthusiasm could go a long way here, Kiyomiko." Kakashi sighed as he dropped his head into his palm, seemingly relaxing somewhat as all eyes turned back to the Jonin as he continued. "The most important think to remember is to work _together_ to accomplish your mission safely. You never know what might happen out there in the real world. Now come with me, all of you. I want to show you something."

Kiyomiko slipped off of the stump and cut Naruto's ropes, releasing the boy as Kakashi silently led the group through some bushes a short distance away until they all came to a stop in a peaceful-looking clearing, a large memorial stone carved out of polished black rock shaped like the blade of a kunai sitting in the center of the clearing. Kiyomiko's pace slowed as she approached, a sick feeling growing within her as she drew nearer, seeing hundreds of names carved onto the surface of the stone and her brows furrowed slightly while Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked curious. They had no idea what it was that they were looking at. Kiyomiko knew what it was, she knew all too well, and she didn't want to think of how many of those names could have been saved if only.. it hadn't been for her father..

"You see this stone..?" Kakashi asked the four Genin, coming to a stop on the circular dias around the memorial stone, gesturing to it as he turned to look over his shoulder at Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kiyomiko. "This stone holds the names of Konoha's truest heroes. Some of my best friends have their names written here."

"Alright-!" Naruto was just about to shout something, his eyes glittering with some challenge but Kiyomiko suddenly appeared behind him, cupping a hand over the boy's mouth before he could say anything further. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke went perfectly still while Naruto's eyes widened, the boy looking over his shoulder to see Kiyomiko's frighteningly blank expression.

"Naruto.. Don't say something you'll regret." Kiyomiko said softly, so quietly that her words were hard to hear as she slowly released the boy, resting her hand on his shoulder for a moment as her silvery gaze lowered to the ground, looking anywhere but directly at the monument as if she were ashamed or afraid but too proud to admit it. "This is the KIA memorial.. KIA stands for Killed in Action. It's a memorial for shinobi who were killed during their missions.. Their names are written here and not in the cemetery because their remains were never recovered for a proper burial.."

"Hn.. I got it, Kiyo-chan.._ Gomen_." Naruto's expression fell into one of solemn understanding as he nodded, lowering his head slightly as Kiyomiko walked a short distance away, all eyes watching her from the sidelines as she picked a wildflower, a little thing with pale blue petals, returning to the monument to rest it on the small ledge. She only stood near it long enough to drop the flower before she withdrew, as if the stone were some sort of creature that would attack if she stayed too long.

"Alright.." Kakashi said finally, watching as Kiyomiko retreated a short distance away, turning her back on the memorial stone as she plopped down into the grass, sitting cross-legged with her head slightly turned so she could hear the others behind her, her arms folded across her chest in a rather masculine pose. With a sigh, the Jonin reached behind the memorial and retrieved three bento boxes, gesturing for the other three Genin to follow as he walked over to Kiyomiko, handing one of the boxes to her and the other two to Sakura and Sasuke. "I'll give you all one more chance, so go ahead and eat your lunches but don't let Naruto eat anything. That's his punishment for trying to cheat."

With that, Kakashi disappeared with a soft pop, leaving Kiyomiko and her teammates alone in the forest, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all sitting around in a circle as a gentle breeze rolled through the clearing, rustling the leaves and grass. Sakura and Sasuke began to eat immediately but Kiyomiko sat still with her eyes lowered to the ground in front of her, not looking back. She didn't want to be near that thing. It felt wrong, like she wasn't welcome and that feeling was so strong that she was beginning to feel physically ill. No one else seemed to notice it though and Kiyomiko sighed, staring down at the bento box in her hands with a look of disdain. There was no way she was going to be able to eat, not now. Making her decision, Kiyomiko mumbled a faint '_here_' as she held out the bento box to Naruto, casting a sidelong glance at the boy as a weak smile appeared on her face.

"Eh?! Kiyo-chan, what are you doing?!" Sakura gaped, her bright green eyes wide as Naruto blinked, taking the bento box almost hesitantly, looking up at Kiyomiko as Sakura continued, her tone worried and her words rushed. "We're not supposed to let him have any food!"

"I'm not hungry." Kiyomiko answered simply as she flopped back into the grass with a sigh, masking her own discomfort with a perfect act of boredom and disinterest. "Besides, I'm used to skipping meals here and there. You three aren't. You all need your strength if we're ever going to stand a chance of getting those bells."

"She has a point." Sasuke sighed, causing Sakura to gape at him while he looked around briefly before he returned to his meal. "Don't worry, it should be safe for now. I don't sense anyone around."

"You wouldn't." Kiyomiko muttered to herself as she closed her eyes, smirking slightly when she heard Sasuke's indignant huff, feeling his glare, though no one said anything about it.

"Alright, alright." Sakura sighed as she turned to Naruto, gesturing for him to eat, her bracelets clinking together with every movement of her wrist. "Be quick!"

Naruto seemed at a loss for words before a look of elation crossed his features and he opened up the bento box, revealing steamed vegetables, sausage, hard-boiled eggs and rice. his eyes were glittering with happiness as he picked up his chopsticks and lifted a pece of sausage to his lips. As soon as he took a bite, Kiyomiko tensed for a moment, feeling the little hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as the air changed, a crackle of electricity reaching her sharp ears. In one sudden movement, Kiyomiko sat bolt upright, her pale silver eyes startlingly hard as she gazed at a single spot near them.

"And here comes the shock and awe campaign.." Kiyomiko sighed as she relaxed, her three teammates looking at her with wide eyes just seconds before the sky began to darken, dark clouds forming in a circle overhead.

"You insolent little brats!" _Yep. Here it comes._ Kakashi appeared seemingly out of nowhere as the wind began to pick up and lightning streaked across the sky. In every regard, Kakashi looked _livid_ but Kiyomiko didn't bat an eyelash while her teammates started to freak out. After all, if you're angry enough to kill someone, you do it quickly and quickly, no show business. "I _told_ you not to let him eat! You _completely_ disobeyed my orders!"

"B-but..! But you told us that we had to work together!" Sakura valiantly tried to defend their actions, looking up at Kakashi with wide eyes, though Kiyomiko could see she was trembling and her face was a few shades paler than before. "We can't work together if Naruto is too weak to fight!"

"We have to think about what's best for our teammates!" Even Sasuke spoke up, which was mildly surprising. Naruto was nodding wildly, though she was pretty sure he was just trying to stay out of trouble. Kakashi seemed to pause, one eyebrow twitching as if he wanted to raise it questioningly, the wind dying down somewhat.

"And what about Kiyomiko?" Kakashi asked, folding his arms across his chest and staring down at the four Genin, one eyebrow twitching as if he wasn't to raise it. This was all part of the test and Kiyomiko sighed slightly. "Isn't _she_ part of the team too?"

"What did I say about focusing on me?" Kiyomiko drawled as everyone suddenly turned to look at her with wide eyes, apparently surprised that she was so calm, an expression of near painful boredom on her face. "Besides, this was part of the test anyway. You wanted to see if we'd feed him, _work together_ and all that jazz. Anyway, I'm more conditioned for battle than these three softies. You know that already, Kakashi."

"Eh..? Sensei, what is she talking about?" Sakura asked, turning a puzzled gaze to look up at Kakashi as the stormclouds quickly dispersed, the Jonin looking mildly uncomfortable. Kiyomiko had won and she smirked slightly.

"Come to think of it.. Why doesn't Kiyomiko seriously call you "sensei" like the rest of us?" Sasuke asked, looking back and forth between Kakashi and Kiyomiko with a curious expression while Naruto seemed to relax, resuming his meal as quickly as possible while everyone's attention was diverted.

"Oh, that's an interesting story." Kiyomiko grinned sweetly, her silvery gaze flickering up to meet Kakashi's for an instant. "You see, Kakashi and I have met before this. I won't bore you with the particulars but in the end, he tried to capture me and I managed to get away from him by diving off of a sixty-foot high cliff and into a river."

"Ne, ne.. Kiyo-chan.. Don't you think that joke is a little.. y'know.. unbelievable?" Naruto spoke up, his head tilted as Sasuke and Sakura just stared at her with wide eyes, seeing her perfectly serious expression while Naruto just babbled on and on. "I mean, why was he trying to catch you? And why dive off a cliff?"

"Well, maybe I'll tell you someday." Kiyomiko smirked mysteriously as she flopped backwards into the grass again, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke now looking back and forth between Kiyomiko and the awkward-looking Kakashi with skeptical but curious expressions.

"Alright, alright. That's enough joking around.." Kakashi laughed nervously for a moment before he cleared his throat, trying to sound all official-like as everyone turned to look up at him with various expressions. "I have an announcement to make."

"Oh, this should be good." Kiyomiko grinned and turned her full attention, or most of it anyway, to Kakashi, as did the rest of the team, all four of the Genin looking up at the Jonin with expectant expressions as they waited for him to speak.

"Congratulations! You all pass!"

Kiyomiko just sighed and looked up at the sky as the clouds dispersed completely, a gentle breeze ruffling her messy bangs as she covered her ears, blocking out the shocked and startled questions of her teammates as they interrogated Kakashi's motives. It was over now. Kiyomiko was officially a Genin of Team Seven with Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi. Who'd have thought? This certainly wasn't what she had in mind when she'd come to Konoha two weeks ago...

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko was _ungodly_ bored. Standing at the base of a tree in a quiet part of the forest, Kiyomiko looked up at the sky with a painfully bored expression, feeling as though she would fall asleep at any moment. The sky was clear and a warm breeze filtered through the trees, carrying with it the scents of the woods and her teammates nearby. This most certainly _was not_ what she had in mind when she had first come to Konoha. This was just.. demeaning. Picking up trash, pulling weeds, walking dogs, babysitting.. Well, she didn't really mind the babysitting, she didn't have a problem with kids, but everything else was just.. Painful.

"_What's your current positions?_" Kakashi's voice whispered in her ear and Kiyomiko shook herself a little so she was a bit more awake, pressing the pad of her index finger against the little microphone she wore on the thin ribbon around her neck, a matching speaker resting in her ear. Peering around the tree she'd been leaning against, Kiyomiko eyed her pathetic excuse for a target, sitting in a small clearing, sunbathing.

"Kiyomiko at point D."

"_Sasuke at point B._"

"_Sakura at point C_."

"..._Naruto at point A!_" Naruto's voice was so loud that it caused feedback through the wireless radios, the sudden squealing in her ear making her flinch and cringe, her head unconsciously tilting away from the noise until she realized it was attached to her ear.

"_Naruto, you're too slow!_" Kakashi scolded once the feedback died away and Kiyomiko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. At this rate, she was going through a whole bottle of headache medicine a week. She was practically putting the shop-owner's kid through the Academy now! "_You had the shortest distance to travel and you still got there last!_"

"_It's not my fault! Kiyo-chan is really fast!_"

"Can we please hurry this along? I'm about to fall asleep on my feet here." Kiyomiko drawled into her microphone and she heard Kakashi's sigh, no doubt lamenting the days when he wasn't a teacher. From the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko could clearly see Sakura beneath a nearby bush and Sasuke half-hidden behind a tree trunk, both of them looking just as miserable as she felt. The only person who seemed to be mildly entertained by these folly missions, though he'd probably never admit it, was Naruto, the boy who clung to a precarious branch in the clearing, directly above their target. Absent-mindly, Kiyomiko wondered if it was too late to revoke her Genin status and find a more interesting village.

"_Alright, move in!_" Kakashi gave the signal and almost as soon as he finished speaking, the branch beneath Naruto broke and the boy landed _squarely_ on top of the ginger-colored cat that they had been sent to retrieve.

"I GOT IT!" Naruto cried, sending more static and feedback through the radios as he pinned the abnormally large cat in the grass like it was an escaped prisoner or something and Kiyomiko sighed.

"Finally." Kiyomiko drawled as she walked over to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke coming out of their hiding places as well. "Kakashi, can we _please_ get a real mission soon? I'm about to lose my mind here."

"We still have to turn in this mission and return the cat to it's owner." Kakashi replied as he appeared from between some trees, walking into the clearing as everyone gathered in a circle around Naruto as the cat managed to squirm free.

"ACK! Geddit off! Geddit off!" Naruto whined, trying to avoid the cat's claws as it launched a rather amusing assault on the boy's face.

"Oie.." Kiyomiko grabbed the cat by the scruff of it's neck, the air temperature dropping around her as she lifted it up to eye level, glaring into the cat's yellow eyes with a perfectly annoyed expression. "Knock that shit off before I have you forcibly declawed."

"Kiyo-chan, you shouldn't curse!" Sakura scolded but Kiyomiko summarily ignored her while Naruto sat up, nursing the shallow clawmarks on his face and hands while Sasuke looked mildly amused. The cat seemed to sense the danger from Kiyomiko's tone and, amazingly, stilled in her grasp, causing Kakashi to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose as if he were getting a headache, the rest of the team seemingly amazed by Kiyomiko's powers of intimidation.

Within a matter of minutes, Kiyomiko and the rest of the group had arrived back in the village and they stood in the massive reception room within the Hokage's tower. The room was huge and spacious, tables set up in a long line while the Hokage sat in the middle, Iruka beside him and a number of various aides and attendants sat on either side of the two men, scrolls and papers scattered over the table's surfaces. The cat's owner, a rather portly woman of obvious noble birth, paid her fee for finding the cat, almost squeezing the life out of the beast when she hugged it on her way out.

"They're made for each other." Kiyomiko smirked as she watched the woman leave, hearing Naruto snicker beside her, the boy nodding in agreement while Sakura and Sasuke even seemed amused while Kakashi just looked mildly annoyed. Ever since joining Team Seven, Kiyomiko and the rest of the team had been doing nearly every low-level mission available, things that Kiyomiko could have just as easily done when she was a _child_. She didn't think she'd ever felt so bored as she had over the last two weeks.

"No wonder the cat ran away!" Naruto hid his laughter behind his hands as soon as the door closed behind the woman. "I would have, too!"

"Hey, that's enough chatter, you two." Kakashi sighed as he scolded them, placing a hand on Naruto and Kiyomiko's shoulder. Immediately, Kiyomiko went rigid and quickly moved away as fluidly as if she were dancing, backing up so that she stood behind the group where she was more comfortable, outside of arm's reach. She _really_ didn't like to be touched and Kakashi blinked for a moment before he just sighed again, nodding once in understanding.

After a minute or two, Iruka started to list off all of the missions common for Genin and Kiyomiko stopped listening, stretching slowly as she covered her mouth to stifle a yawn, earning her another annoyed glance from Kakashi but she summarily ignored him, her arms folding across her chest as her head tilted to one side as if she were bored, which was further proven by her half-open eyes. Naruto seemed to be quickly losing patience, his hands balling up into fists as his shoulders twitched once and Kiyomiko covered her ears just in time before the boy finally blew a gasket, shouting and whining like a little kid.

"Nope! No way! No more!" Naruto shouted, making an X-shape with his forearms before he plopped down on his backside and started to pout. "I want a _real_ mission! No more babysitting or pulling weeds or picking up trash!"

"I have to agree, Hokage-sama. I could have done these last few missions in my sleep." Kiyomiko drawled lightly, earning her shocked glances from most of the aides, Iruka and even Kakashi, but the Hokage didn't seem bothered by her informal attitude.

"Actually, I think you _were_ asleep during that one mission the other day.." Sakura replied quietly as Naruto started snickering behind his hands and Kiyomiko was pretty sure she saw Sasuke smirk a little, a small scoff or a chuckle escaping him before he could stop it. Kakashi actually facepalmed as everyone stared at Kiyomiko for a moment before Iruka finally flipped.

"Naruto, Kiyomiko, that's enough!" Iruka shouted, standing up from his seat at the table as Kiyomiko rolled her pale silver eyes with a sigh, reminded of her Academy days with an expression of mild chagrin as she covered her ears again, though considerably more indirectly than before. Iruka didn't seem to notice and ended up running off into his usual long-winded rantings about how ungrateful Naruto and Kiyomiko were being and how they needed to grow up and blah blah blah. Kiyomiko resisted the urge to glare at him, turning a pleading glance to the Hokage instead, conveying that she was bored to tears.

"Alright, alright." The Hokage seemed to get the message, seemingly swayed and caving under the pressure of both Naruto's whining and the power of Kiyomiko's patented puppy-dog eyes. Iruka fell silent with a shocked look and even Kakashi seemed surprised, Kiyomiko quickly blanking her expression before the Jonin could see her. "We'll give them a C-Rank mission for now. They'll be escorting someone to the Land of Waves."

"Ooh! Who is it?! A daimyo?! A princess?!" Naruto looked excited again, seemingly forgetting all about his troubles as Kiyomiko just smirked at his enthusiasm. Just as she was about to say something to the boy to calm him somewhat, she paused and looked over her shoulder, noticing the approaching scent of sawdust, cheap sake and sea water coming from a door in the back of the room.

"You can come in now!" The Hokage called out, everyone turning to follow Kiyomiko's gaze as the door opened, revealing a tall older man with messy, greying hair and a goatee, wearing a black sleeveless shirt and a travel pack on his back, a bottle of rediculously cheap sake clutched in one hand while a splotch of pink covered his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, a far cry from the rest of his sun-weathered skin. Instantly, Naruto's face fell into an expression of _total_ disenchantment.

"Craftsman.." Kiyomiko mumbled under her breath, mostly to herself as she memorized every detail about the man in front of her, down the the sawdust on his clothes and the scars and callouses on his hands, not noticing that Kakashi was looking down at her as she stared.

"My name is Tazuna! I need protection while I travel home!" The man introduced himself a little too loudly, giving a soft hic before he took another swig from his bottle of sake, gulping it down as he narrowed his unfocused eyes at the group, looking at them almost appraisingly. "Are you sure these guys can handle it? They're just a bunch of kids! That pale girl hardly looks strong enough to hold up her own weight! And that short kid with the stupid face looked really weak!"

"Well, looks are can be decieving, Tazuna-san." Kiyomiko smiled amiably, everyone in Team Seven suddenly going still as the temperature dropped noticably, a smile of perfect calm and gentility on Kiyomiko's face. They had never seen that smile before but somehow they understood it was dangerous, even Tazuna seemed to quiet down. "Especially when one's sight is colored by sake. Perhaps we should wait an hour or two before we depart? That way you'll have time enough to eat a hearty meal. After all, there won't be many places for us to stop once we leave the village."

"Eheheheh.. Kiyo-chan.. You're kinda scary.." Naruto spoke up and almost instantly, Kiyomiko's expression returned to one of complete boredom as she sighed almost wistfully, reaching up to knit her fingers behind her head, everyone around her seemingly recovering as Kakashi quickly accepted the mission for his team.

With that, the team dispersed, Kakashi taking Tazuna out to eat to sober up a bit, probably for his own safetly at this point, while the four Genin split up and gathered supplies. Kiyomiko sighed as she stood in her bedroom, staring into her closet as she packed up a change of clothes and every single weapon she had, stuffing them all into her black canvas knapsack. Pausing to look in the mirror, Kiyomiko sighed as she swept a lock of her long black hair behind one ear. She was wearing her white yukata with her pale-wood geta, clean bandages covering her calves and throat, concealing her scars, while her forehead protector rested around her neck, her long black hair hanging loose down her back to the swell of her hips. With an annoyed huff, Kiyomiko slipped her fan into the sash around her waist and turned, swinging her knapsack over her shoulders as she walked out the door.

Arriving at the massive gates leading out of the village, Kiyomiko saw Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke approaching, all of them packed up and ready for their long journey to the Land of Waves, Kakashi and Tazuna walking over to them a few minutes later. Tazuna looked remarkably sober now and Kiyomiko fought a small smirk as the group set out, leaving through the gates of the village. On her way out, Kiyomiko turned a fox-like smile to the two Chunin guards that had been there on her first day in the village, three weeks ago, and she chuckled when they gaped at her, recognizing her immediately. Soon, they were walking down the road towards the south, in the direction of the Land of Waves, and Konoha fell out of sight in the distance behind them.

Almost to comfort herself, Kyomiko hooked a thumb into her sash, her hand resting over the grip of her fan as she kept an eye on her surroundings. Naruto and Sasuke took the lead with Tazuna and Sakura walking in the middle while Kakashi and Kiyomiko walked in the back, travelling in a companionable silence while the rest of the group chattered on happily. After a few hours of walking, Kiyomiko started to space out, ignoring all attempts at drawing her into a conversation as she kept one hand rested on her fan while the other was hidden in her sleeve, looking up at the sky absent-mindedly. It was hot even for late-spring and it hadn't rained in days, leaving the grass and soil to dry up and crunch beneath her geta as she walked. Kiyomiko felt parched, like she was back in the deserts of Suna and she _hated_ the desert with a fiery passion. As she was walking, thinking about all of the things she hated about deserts and summer, her foot landed in a puddle of water.

Kiyomiko's mind froze but her body kept walking, glancing back over her shoulder to ensure that she hadn't imagined it. No, there was a puddle in the middle of the road, perfectly round with clear, cold water. Instantly, her mind started to churn through possible explainations. They hadn't passed anyone on the southern road since they left Konoha. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky and it hadn't rained in days. There was no fresh water source near enough that the puddle could have formed on it's own. There weren't even any animal tracks near it. Kiyomiko's eyes darkened a shade as she kept walking beside Kakashi, a growing sense of unease taking root in her mind as she started to scan her surroundings before her silvery gaze landed on the road ahead, almost robotically, like a soldier waiting for danger.

"Kakashi-sensei." Kiyomiko spoke low, her voice so quiet that none of her teammates could hear her as she stared straight ahead, keeping a close eye on Tazuna, all of her senses on high alert. No one ahead of them seemed to notice that anything was wrong, even the abnormally-sharp Sasuke seemed oblivious and Kiyomiko sighed inwardly.

"Oh? This is rare, you calling me 'sensei'." Kakashi smiled, looking down at Kiyomiko as they walked, seeing her darkened expression as she stared ahead, not looking up at him. Her right hand was gripping the fan in her sash while her left was hidden in her flowing sleeve, clutching something shaped like a kunai.

"Something's wrong." Kiyomiko breathed, casting a knowing glance at Kakashi and he seemed to understand, giving her a miniscule nod before looking back at the path ahead with his usual cheerful demeanor. He already knew.

They walked for a while longer, no more than ten or fifteen minutes, while Kakashi's pace slowed somewhat and Kiyomiko calmly walked up directly behind Tazuna. Even without words, Kiyomiko knew Kakashi's tactic, using himself as bait to lure out their persuers since he was the highest ranking ninja of the group and he knew that Kiyomiko had combat experience, moreso than the rest of the team, so that left her as his unofficial second-in-command. It worked out nicely and no one seemed the wiser as Kakashi lagged about ten feet behind the group, his hands stuffed into his pockets casually.

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko smelled metal that wasn't there before and a bladed chain shot out of the forest beside Kakashi and wrapped around him, binding him. Kiyomiko didn't look back, knowing the Jonin would be fine as she acted fast, grabbing Tazuna's shoulder as she shoved him down and out of the way with a surprising amount of strength while Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked on in shock. To their eyes, Kakashi was ripped to pieces by the bladed chains and in the blink of an eye, two cloaked formed appeared out of nowhere. The three Genin couldn't believe what they had seen, their eyes wide.

"One down!" A male voice said and Kiyomiko recognized the resonance of a rebreather, something common among Kirigakure and Amegakure shinobi, her suspicions confirmed by their scents and appearances. Tazuna quickly got to his feet and Sakura got in front of him, drawing a kunai to protect him despite her obvious fear. Time seemed to slow for an instant as Kiyomiko's eyes widened. Her team was being threatened, they could be hurt, maybe even killed! In that moment, a deep-seated anger bloomed in Kiyomiko's core and she bit her lower lip so hard that she tasted blood.

Naruto was standing stock-still, trembling as he watched Sasuke temporarily fend off one of the two attackers before he jumped in front of Sakura to protect her and Tazuna, the other cloaked figure running up behind Naruto, a clawed metal hand appearing from the folds of his ratty black cloak. She had to protect her friend. In that moment, Kiyomiko stopped thinking and simply reacted, drawing upon the knowledge and training that had been enstilled within her at a very young age. The scene around her blurred somewhat as she ran towards Naruto, her geta shockingly silent with each step, her pupil-less pale silver eyes gleaming as she drew a pair of kunai from her sleeve, whipping them at the attacker as a deterrant. It worked. Instead of attacking Naruto, Kiyomiko now had the man's complete and undivided attention as he came after her in a rage.

Kiyomiko _grinned_ at him, leading him away from her team as she jumped backwards and waited just long enough for him to catch up before she jumped back again. Once she was about thirty or so feet away, Kiyomiko did the unthinkable. She stopped running and faced the man, her hands loosely resting at her sides as she smiled at the attacker in complete and utter calm, a sharp chill forming in the air around her as he charged. The man was getting closer and closer, his metal claw raised, a thin film of poison coating each claw but she didn't care. She could hear the worried shouts of her team, she could even hear Kakashi's voice from nearby but again, she didn't care. She was _reacting_ to the man that had threatened the lives of her friends, reacting the only way she truely knew how. She was going to kill him.

_Don't kill him! Information comes first!_

"Jagei Jubaku!" Kiyomiko hissed as she raised her arms, a feral glint in her pupil-less pale silver eyes when two, large, perfectly white snakes shot out of the flowing white sleeves of her yukata and wrapped themselves around the cloaked attacker, draping themselves around him and completely immobilizing him in a matter of seconds, one snake locking eyes with the man while the second grasped the man's neck in it's mouth, poisoned fangs ready and waiting to break the skin and end the man's life.

"Kiyomiko!"

Kiyomiko blinked and the feral glint was gone from her eyes, her expression instantly changing back to a look of disinterest as she glanced to the side to see Kakashi, his arm around the neck of the other attacker, now unconscious. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and even Tazuna were completely unharmed and Kiyomiko released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding before she returned her silvery gaze to her attacker. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko nodded to the snakes and the one around the man's neck withdrew slowly, almost disappointed, as it put a sleeper hold on the man, knocking him out. Ignoring the varying looks of shock and surprise from her teammates and Tazuna, not to mention Kakashi, Kiyomiko dismissed the two massive white snakes with a wave and they popped out of existence, her captive's unconscious body slumping to the ground.

"He's all yours, Kakashi." Kiyomiko sighed as she hid her hands in her flowing sleeves once again, walking passed the Jonin and the rest of her team as she located a tree alongside the path and jumped up into one of it's low branches.

For a while, everything was quiet before Kakashi took over once again, gathering up the second unconscious attacker and binding them both to a tree on the opposite side of the path with Sasuke's help while Sakura looked after Tazuna and Naruto wandered over to the base of the tree that Kiyomiko was sitting in. She could tell that he wanted to ask her something and she could tell _even more_ when he jumped up onto the same branch and knelt down in front of her with a puzzled expression. Subtlety was _not_ his strong suit. From behind the boy, Kiyomiko could see Kakashi glancing over his shoulder at her while he waited for the two attackers to wake up, listening in while Sasuke kept watch.

"Ne, ne, Kiyo-chan." Naruto finally broke the silence, unable to hold back any longer as he reached out and started to lightly pat at Kiyomiko's shoulders and arms and Kiyomiko surprised _everyone_ when she didn't pull away, simply letting the boy touch her. "Why were you hiding snakes in your sleeves, and where'd they go now?"

"Eh..?" Kiyomiko blinked for a second before she suddenly burst out laughing, startling everyone but Naruto as she leaned back against the trunk of the tree behind her. They had never heard her laugh before, ever, and it seemed to be a startling sight. "Naruto, I don't keep them in my sleeves, it was a jutsu!"

Naruto paused, still looking somewhat skeptical so Kiyomiko pushed up the long, flowing sleeves of her yukata to expose her bare arms, perfectly plain and normal, not a single thing abnormal about them besides the obvious flawless snow-white skin. Seemingly accepting this, Naruto nodded and Kiyomiko let her sleeves fall back into place with an amused smile, sweeping a delicate hand through her long black hair as she seemed to relax a little bit. The sun was shining, the gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, she was outside and away from the village and Naruto was there to cheer her up. Yeah, she was going to be fine.

"Still, where did you learn a jutsu like that, Kiyo-chan?" Sakura asked, the pink-haired girl walking to the base of the tree with Tazuna in tow. Apparently, she had been eavesdropping, just like Kakashi was doing now, the Jonin noticing when Kiyomiko's expression fell somewhat.

"My father.. He taught me a few things but it was a long time ago." Kiyomiko answered quietly, Naruto and Sakura exchanging a worried glance as Kiyomiko's eyes darkened a shade.

"O-oh.. I'm sorry.. Did something happen?" Sakura asked, trying to approach the situation a little more delicate and Kiyomiko smiled politely, shaking her head.

"No, no. It's nothing important. We just.. don't get along anymore, that's all."

_Yeah, that was putting it mildly._

Absent-mindedly, Kiyomiko reached up and rested a hand on the side of her neck, feeling the two raised scars beneath her palm and she sighed, turning her gaze towards the distant horizon, silently ending the conversation there. She never should have summoned those snakes.. She had been avoiding using them for the last few years because they were all still loyal to her father.. She could control them while they were summoned but as soon as _he_ summoned them, they would tell him everything he wanted to know. That's why she had formed the contract with the foxes.. No, she would have to wait until she was alone.. When they stopped to rest for the night, Kiyomiko would sneak away and take care of those two snakes. There were too many secrets that they could divulge if her father summoned them.

Hopefully, she could get to them first.


	5. A Pact Made In Moonlight

Here's the rewritten chapter five!

* * *

"_Kiyomiko.. Wake up. Everyone is asleep._" Yuki's voice whispered in her mind and Kiyomiko's eyes opened, her breathing and heartbeat softened automatically. Kiyomiko was laying on a futon on the floor of a small room, tatami mat floors and shoji screen walls, a round-cut window allowing a small amount of moonlight into the room. Looking beside her, Kiyomiko could see Sakura laying on another futon a few feet away, sound asleep. The scent of tea, food and incense reached her nose and Kiyomiko sighed slightly. The team had been on their way to the Land of Waves when they stopped for the night at an old, run-down inn nestled into a little grove of ancient maple trees just off the main road. Sakura had insisted that she and Kiyomiko get their own room for the night, seperate from the boys of the group, so Kiyomiko had paid for it out of her own pocket to save Sakura the trouble of making Kakashi pay. After all, this worked out to her benefit as well. Though, she wouldn't tell anyone else that.

"_Thank you, Yuki._" Kiyomiko replied mentally. On the way to the Inn, Kiyomiko had enlisted Yuki's help, asking the spirit to notify her when everyone had gone to sleep for the night and, thankfully, he had agreed willingly. Kiyomiko knew she didn't have to say anything, he knew she was grateful to him. Kiyomiko stood slowly, her bare feet silent on the tatami floors as she scooped up her knapsack and geta, sliding open the shoji-screen door without a sound as she stepped into the hall. For a moment, she held her breath and strained her ears, listening for any sounds of movement. She knew that all of the other rooms were vacant, Team Seven being the only people renting rooms in the old, run-down Inn, and she could hear soft breathing, snoring and Naruto mumbling in his sleep about ramen and Sakura, the Inn's owners asleep in their beds on the lower level. Everyone was asleep.

Kiyomiko turned and padded down the long corridor, passing by the large room that the boys shared on the way to the stairs, remembering to skip the steps that creaked as she went downstairs and slipped outside into the garden behind the Inn. The moon was high overhead, illuminating the path through the overgrown garden as Kiyomiko walked farther and farther, a gentle breeze sending a chill down her spine as her expression hardened into one of grim determination. Leaving the path, Kiyomiko stepped into a quiet grove of ancient maple trees, most of them overgrown with ivy and dying, their green leaves browning at the edges. Coming to a stop beneath one of the trees, Kiyomiko drew her fan from her sash, opening it with a delicate click, the only sound through the wooded area aside from the soft breeze through the dying leaves.

The way the moonlight filtered through the swaying foliage was.. eerie, like the shadows were living beings that could reach out and grab her at any moment, but Kiyomiko paid them no mind. Fear of the dark was pointless. It wouldn't do her any good to fear something she'd been raised in. Though, she didn't have time to dwell on such thoughts, someone would notice her absence sooner or later and she had a mission to accomplish before anyone realized she was gone. With her open fan in one hand, Kiyomiko raised her arms to the trunk of the oldest tree, the flowing sleeves of her yukata swaying with her movements as her pupil-less pale silver eyes hardened. Channelling a small amount of chakra into her arms, Kiyomiko focused only on speed and accuracy. She couldn't take chances anymore.

"Jagei Jubaku!" Kiyomiko hissed softly and the same two pure white snakes shot out of her sleeves in one lightning-fast movement, coiling themselves around the trunk of the tree that she'd selected as a target. They paused for a moment but the two snakes didn't have more than a second before Kiyomiko slashed at them with the bladed spines of her fan, slicing off their heads before they could unsummon themselves, their bodies going limp as they fell to the ground at the base of the tree. Blood pooled around her feet and Kiyomiko sighed, glad that she'd remained barefoot and that her geta wouldn't get stained as she calmly picked up the remains of the great snakes.

Kiyomiko buried the evidence at the base of the tree, spreading dusty soil and dried leaves over the traces of freshly-moved soil and the pool of blood seeping into the ground around the base of the ancient maple tree. When she was done, Kiyomiko walked over to an empty koi pond and stepped into it, the water only reaching up to her ankles as she bent at the waist, cupping handfuls of water as she rinsed off the blades of her battle fan, the blood of the two snakes seeping into the water around her before it dispersed, becoming invisible. As soon as her fan was immaculately clean, Kiyomiko snapped it closed with one hand and slipped it back into her sash, sweeping her bare feet through the water to make sure the blood had been washed away before she stepped onto the dry ground once again, slipping her damp feet into the straps of her geta.

"Kiyomiko?"

She reacted reflexively, her pale silver eyes hardening as she brought her hands up to her hair, withdrawing handfuls of senbon needles before whipping them towards the sound of the voice that had startled her in one fluid motion. The figure moved out of the way just in time, side-stepping the attack, jumping out of the shadows and into the moonlight with an expression of shock as the senbon needles jammed into the trunk of a tree in a frighteningly precise and perfect formation. If it had been a person, every vital organ and pressure point on their torso would have been hit, ensuring a slow and very painful death. A second later, Kiyomiko's eyes widened when she saw the face of the man who'd called to her. Metaphorically speaking. It was Kakashi, the Jonin somehow managed to sneak up behind her without being noticed, his hands held up in a reassuring manner, the same way he had when they'd first spoken on the cliff in the Forest of Death.

"Whoa, easy easy! It's just me!" Kakashi said hurriedly, obviously taken aback by what had just happened and Kiyomiko froze for a second, her eyes wide like a child caught stealing sweets before supper, like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have before she sighed and relaxed a bit, her expression turning into one of annoyance. Once again, she'd been so wrapped up in thought, so deep in her own mind that she'd neglected to pay attention to her surroundings, though she noticed that Kakashi's scent of summer rain and electricity was mostly absent from the air around him. He had approached her from down-wind..

"Stop sneaking up on me." Kiyomiko growled under her breath, pulling her outstretched hands back towards her and a glimmer of wire string shimmered in the moonlight between her and the tree trunk, the senbon needles retracting from the old wood and returning to her hands, the girl catching them easily before she slipped them back into her long black hair. Kakashi watched the scene with an expression, what little she could see, of surprise while Kiyomiko just hid her hands in her flowing sleeves, not looking directly at the Jonin now. "What do you want, Kakashi?"

"I want to know about those snakes." Kakashi said finally, his expression and tone darkening enough that Kiyomiko knew that it wasn't a request and she sighed, her own expression softening from one of annoyance to one of.. something else. Something that Kakashi had never seen before. Regret, colored with something akin to helplessness. Kiyomiko turned to one side, still not looking directly at Kakashi as she stood in a spotty mixture of moonlight and shadow, a gentle breeze ruffling her long black hair as the shadows danced and swayed around her.

"You won't have to worry about those snakes again." Kiyomiko sighed quietly, her expression distant and cold, as if she were removed from the world, totally untouchable as she pointed one delicate finger towards an area of disturbed earth, something she knew Kakashi would recognize right away, since it hadn't yet had time to settle properly. "Believe me when I say that I never meant to summon them. The team was in danger and I just reacted, using the only jutsu I could think of at the time and that was it. The snakes may obey me when I summon them but they're all loyal to my father in the long run.. I had to get rid of them before they told him anything. I don't want to endanger everyone around me and that was the best way to repair the damage I'd done."

"You killed them..?" Kakashi asked, his gaze still resting on the small traces of disturbed earth as Kiyomiko's hand lowered to her side. After a moment, he turned to look at her, his expression softening somewhat when he saw her shoulders tremble once, something like a small slip in her ceaseless control before it vanished when she realized he was looking at her. She was worried and Kakashi had never seen her look so _fragile_ before, not even when she'd jumped off of a damn cliff to get away from him, and he was admittedly surprised by that. "Why didn't you tell me that you could use summons?"

"Oh please. We're shinobi, aren't we?" Kiyomiko sighed softly, her expression taking on a tinge of her normal disinterest as she cast him a sideways glance. "In this world, knowledge is power and information is used as currency. For someone like me.. Someone who's in hiding, that knowledge could get me killed, as well as anyone closely associated with me. I've been alone for a long time, Kakashi, since I was eight years old. I've learned that it's dangerous to trust anyone in this world, so you'll have to forgive me for being a little secretive.

"Kiyomiko, I can see that you've been alone for a long time and I know that you don't trust me right now.. But I hope that will change in the future." Kakashi sighed as he walked over to Kiyomiko, crouching down so that his gaze was level with hers and she turned to look at him slightly, her pale silver eyes a little wider than before. "You should know by now that I'm not going to betray you. Whether you're learning anything from me or not, I'm still your sensei and I'll protect you if you're in trouble."

"Hn.. Father always said that the people from Konoha were all emotional fools.. Letting their pointless morals guide their decisions.. Often to their own disadvantage.." Kiyomiko said quietly, turning to face Kakashi fully now, a small smile touching her impish features. "But.. I'm beginning to see that it may not be as much of a flaw as he led me to believe. You're right, Kakashi.. I may not trust you now but maybe that will change in the future."

"As long as I have a chance.." Kakashi chuckled softly, reaching up to rest a hand on the top of her head, gently ruffling her hair as if to comfort her. She froze, almost reflexively going completely rigid, but she didn't pull away like he'd been expecting, looking up at him with one eye open. It was strange.. Non-violent human contact after so many years and Kiyomiko was a little uncomfortable but she allowed it, which seemed to surprise the Jonin to some degree. After a minute, he pulled his hand away and stood, looking down at her with a calm posture. "I don't suppose that you trust me enough to tell me who your father is..?"

"Heh.. No, not quite yet." Kiyomiko smirked slightly, her pale silver eyes darkening a shade at the mere mention of her father, though she quickly recovered, glancing at the eastern horizon behind Kakashi. "It's nearly sunrise.. We should get back to the Inn before everyone wakes up. I want to at least pack a breakfast for everyone before we have to leave."

"Alright." Kakashi nodded, turning and following after Kiyomiko as they went back towards the Inn, leaving the overgrown garden behind. It was true, she didn't fully trust Kakashi enough to tell him everything but.. It might be nice.. someday.

-(o.o)-

_Father was coming._

_Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes opened and the four year old girl sat up on the edge of her cot, her bare feet brushing across the cold stone floor beneath them as she looked around at her room. It was larger than the last one, closer to Father's room and she was pleased by that. Her bed was a little larger, straw and hay replaced by warm wool and burlap, and she even had her own nightstand beside the bed, a single candle sitting in a cracked clay dish, flame flickering in the darkness. It wasn't much, she knew, but it was fine. She was warm and dry, clean and fed. Father had even given her a new dress, one that fit her, and she couldn't ask for anything more._

_Just as before, Kiyomiko stood when she heard a door open nearby and she walked to the center of the room, standing in front of the door as still as a statue as she waited. This time, she listened closely to the footsteps and she smiled slightly when she recognized them. They were calm, unhurried, almost lazy and she knew them as her father's footsteps, his usual casual pace, slowing to a stop in front of her door. She waited, hearing a key slip into the lock before the door opened, revealing the slim figure of her father and she smiled up at him, waiting for him to speak first, just as she always did._

_"Come now, Kiyomiko." Her father said and she nodded once, padding out of the room and into the stone corridor, following after her father. She fell in exactly five paces behind him and one pace to his left, her small hands clasped behind her back as she walked with a small smile on her face, her pale silver eyes lowered to the floor, remembering every crack and scratch from the map in her mind. All of the hallways looked the same in this underground world, the doors and torches all spaced uniformly, how else was she supposed to know where she was going? "You always seem to be in a good mood, child. Tell me, what's the occasion this time?"_

_"I had a good dream! Though.." Kiyomiko's words fell away and her father looked back over his shoulder to see the girl touching her chin as if she were thinking. "It was a little strange, I suppose. It doesn't make much sense now."_

_"What was it about?"_

_"I was standing in a flat open field with all of these square stones everywhere and someone was talking to me, but I can't remember who.. Anyway, I looked down and I found the shed skin of a white snake! Isn't that good, Father? You told me that white snakes bring good luck!" Kiyomiko's smile widened as her father listened, her long black hair swaying with each step she took. "But that's when everything started to get strange. The snake skin turned into a little baby and I was trying to protect him from something but I can't remember what.. I started running through all these buildings I've never seen before and when I finally stopped, I was standing in a field again but instead of stones, all these people were just laying on the ground like they were asleep. It was really strange because it was snowing and I tried to wake them before they froze but I woke up before I could reach any of them. Oh! I was rambling!"_

_"It sounds as though you have a very vivid imagination." Her father chuckled, reaching down to gently pat her head and she smiled as he stroked her almost like he was petting a cat. After a moment, his hand withdrew and they kept walking in silence, though Kiyomiko didn't mind. Her father had listened to her about her dream, it was probably the most she'd actually spoken in the last few weeks, and she was brimming with happiness even though she knew that was probably childish._

_As they walked, they rounded corner after corner until they finally came to a stop in front of one of the many identical doors and her father pushed it open, revealing the darkness within before he gestured for Kiyomiko to walk ahead of him and she did as she was told, taking a few steps into the room before her father followed her in, closing the door behind him. After a moment, a candle was lit and Kiyomiko's eyes widened as she looked around the room, her father walking into the center to set the candle on a small round table. The room was filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes, bladed and blunt, spiked and spined, many of which Kiyomiko had never seen before and she looked around, her eyes wide with awe. They were all so pretty and she heard her father chuckle at her reaction as she took a few steps towards him while she looked around._

_"Kiyomiko, you've made a great deal of progress in your training this last year and I'm very proud of you. Because you've done so well, you're going to start training with weapons now." Her father said with a smile, gesturing around at the weapon racks that lined the walls as he looked down at Kiyomiko. "Choose which weapon you would like to train with first. It will be my gift to you and you can keep it with you."_

_Kiyomiko looked up at the high walls with an expression of delight, gazing at all of the different kinds of weapons and browsing through them like a child would look at toys or candy while her father watched her with an amused expression. They were all so pretty, metal glittering in the flickering light of the lone candle, but one weapon in particular seemed to stand out to her. She came to a stop in front of it, her smile fading into an almost curious expression. She had been drawn to it somehow, almost as if it had called to her and she reached out to it with one hand, frowning slightly when she was unable to reach it. It was a large fan, it's spines made up of a curious dark metal, sharpened and polished into deadly-looking blades, the paper painted by gentle pale blue and silver swirls with a small blue butterfly in the center. There was an engraving on the spines, a crescent moon and a cloud and Kiyomiko couldn't help the feeling that she'd seen it somewhere before, like the symbol somehow.. belonged to her.._

_"Can't reach?"_

_"I can get it!" Kiyomiko chirped, hearing her father's footsteps pause behind her. With a determined smile, Kiyomiko crouched down before she gave a great jump, her little body flying upwards just high enough that she was able to just barely reach the fan on the shelf and she snatched it up, hugging it to her chest as gravity took her and she dropped, her bare feet silent as she landed on the stone floor with a comical flourish, as if she were a street performer doing a trick. "Tada! See? I got it!"_

_"You're such a funny little child." Her father chuckled and Kiyomiko beamed up at him, holding up the fan so he could see it before he knelt down in front of her, his yellow eyes gazing at the engravings with an amused expression. "It is fitting for you to choose this, Kiyomiko. I suppose you could say that it belonged to your mother."_

_"My mother..?" Kiyomiko blinked, looking up at her father as he stood, gazing back down at her. She knew what the word meant, what a Mother was, but she'd never had one, never known one and saying the word felt.. almost foreign. "Don't worry, Father. If you don't want me to have this fan, I'll put it back. I don't need a mother if I have you."_

_"No, child. You should begin your training with this weapon." Her father instructed and Kiyomiko nodded, listening to his every word as she carefully closed the fan with both hands, hugging it to her chest as she followed after her father as he left the room. It was almost as long as her torso but she didn't care. It was _her_ fan and no one would tell her differently. She would learn how to use it, she would make her father proud and she would love the fan for the rest of her life because it was a gift from her father._

_Walking through the identical stone corridors again, Kiyomiko followed after her father, five paces behind and one to the left, her little arms wrapped around the fan, a smile on her face as she started humming a non-sensical tune. After a ten minute walk, her father came to a stop in front of a door at the end of a long corridor and Kiyomiko obediently stopped at the exact second her father stopped. Unlocking the heavy steel door, her father pushed it open and the hinges groaned with age and rust, her father gesturing her ahead once again. She knew this room well, she'd been here many times in the last year and Kiyomiko wasted no time in going ahead._

_Stone made up the walls, floors and ceiling of the three-level chamber while barred doors lined the outer walls on each of the three levels, a large stone staircase leading down into an area that Kiyomiko liked to call The Pit. She could hear the telltale shuffling of bare feet around her, coming from behind the barred doors and soon dirty faces of all shapes and sizes walked forward from the shadows and she smiled as only a child could as she looked over her shoulder at her father. He was looking down at her with his usual smile, a look of what could only be described as pride written in his eyes as he rested a hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle push forward. She would be training here again tonight and she nodded once in understanding._

_Walking forward, Kiyomiko started to walk down the stone staircase in front of the door, careful not to slip on the splashes of cold, dark liquid that coated the steps as she made her way down into the pit. It was dark there, the only light coming from the door on the third level of the chamber, though Kiyomiko didn't mind it. She was used to the dark, she prefered it, and her pale silver eyes adjusted to the darkness immediately as she smiled up at the silhouette of her father as he stood in front of a panel of levers that controlled the barred doors to the cells around her. In one easy motion, he opened all of them before he turned to look down at Kiyomiko, his yellow eyes piercing the darkness as if they were lit from within and Kiyomiko's impish smile widened._

_"Thank you for the present, Father. I promise I'll learn to use it perfectly!" Kiyomiko chirped happily as she watched her father leave the room, closing and locking the heavy steel door behind him, a few rays of torchlight seeping through the little barred window cut into the door, her father looking through it. Kiyomiko knew that he would watch for a while and she turned when she heard hesitant footsteps approaching, seeing a muscular man walking up behind her, his face so coated with bruises and dried blood, so streaked with dirt that he was nearly indistinguishable from the others appearing around her._

_A few seconds later, screams of pain and agony rang out through the chamber, echoing off of the walls, drowning out the soft pattering of small feet, the metallic scent of blood wafting through the cold, damp air. Kiyomiko would make her father proud._

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko pulled herself from her memories with an inward sigh, one hand resting on the fan in her sash while the other reached up to sweep through her long black hair, blinking the world into focus once again as she looked at her surroundings, forcing the residual screams out of her mind. The world around her was all too bright, her pale silver eyes adjusting and narrowing at all of the high-contrast colors brought by the mid-day sun's bright rays. Sharp greens and bright blues made up the grass, sky and ocean, and a sunshine yellow-brown color made up the well-worn dirt path on which Team Seven, and Tazuna, travelled through the forest. Birds were chirping happily, singing about their carefree days and her teammates were chatting with Tazuna much the same as they walked, learning more about his life on the island and about his family.

Which reminded her why they were there in the first place. After the attack of the two rogue Chunin on the road from Konoha, they had continued their journey to the Land of Waves, arriving in the poverty-stricken island city by row-boat. As they passed the the huge, unfinished bridge, Tazuna suddenly spilled his whole life story, albeit with a few obvious embellishments, but he had admitted that he was being persued by mercenaries hired by a man named Gatoh, a man who wanted to control the island's shipping and trade industry, which was everything the people in the Land of Waves had. However, Tazuna was in charge of building the giant bridge from the island to the mainland but if the bridge was completed, Gatoh would loose money so he hired mercenaries and rogue ninja to kill Tazuna and halt the bridge's construction. Needless to say, if Tazuna had been upfront with his story in _Konoha_, this mission would have been considerably more expensive, more than he could afford, but the old man managed to sway the team by some twist of fate.

Deciding to stay and help after all the trouble it's gotten them, Kiyomiko and her teammates joined Tazuna, escorting him back to his home just as they had originally planned. Kiyomiko and Kakashi walked in the back, Tazuna and Sakura were in the middle and Sasuke and Naruto took the lead, the two boys seemingly fighting for some form of dominance as to who would "officially" lead the group. Kiyomiko was too tired to make fun of them at this point, so she just stayed quiet. Ever since the attack from those two rogue Chunin, Naruto seemed desperate to prove himself in combat, no thanks to Sasuke's unnecessary prodding, and the hyperactive blonde boy was jumping at shadows in an attempt to catch another attacker in the act, much to the annoyance of the rest of the team.

As the group walked through the sunstained forest, Kiyomiko tuned out the chatter and took in the scents and sounds of the world around her, the salty sea air, the sun-warmed soil, anything her heightened senses could detect. Everything seemed completely normal... Too normal.. and that made her uneasy, though no one would be able to tell by looking at her. By every right, Kiyomiko looked bored, her arms raised and her fingers knit behind her head, her large silver eyes almost reflecting the blue of the sky as her geta clicked out a monotone tune with every step. All of a sudden, Kiyomiko was startled from her daydream when Naruto started shouting something and whipped a kunai into the forest, followed by a hollow _thunk_ of metal hitting against wood. Naruto, in another attempt at being brave, had lobbed a kunai into the brush at random, scaring Sakura and Tazuna half to death.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?!" Sakura cried, her shrill voice grating on Kiyomiko's ears as the pink-haired girl's voice hit notes that Kiyomiko didn't even know were possible, Sakura going off on another tirade as she scolded Naruto as if he were an untrained dog or something. Kiyomiko sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying desperately to tune the girl out, to no avail. "Don't go randomly throwing your kunai around! You might actually _kill someone!_"

"And if you don't lower your voice, you might alert people to our presence here, Princess." Kiyomiko drawled as she walked up behind Sakura with her arms folded across her chest, an expression of complete disinterest on her face as Sakura whipped a glare over her shoulder. "Hey, don't get mad at _me_ because _your voice_ carries. If I hadn't said anything, you probably would have just gotten louder and louder and alerted half the mercs on the island that we're here."

"Alright, alright. That's enough, girls." Kakashi sighed as he got between Kiyomiko and Sakura, seperating them before Sakura lost her temper even more, pointing through the brush alongside the path where Naruto had thrown his kunai. "Look there, at the base of that tree. You see it? That's Naruto's "mercenary"."

"Oh no! It was a bunny!" Naruto gaped, suddenly realizing he had very narrowly missed killing a harmless rabbit, his kunai lodged into a tree trunk a mere inch above the stunned rabbit's head. "_Gomen-ne, Usa-chan!_"

Naruto jumped off of the path and into the brush towards the rabbit, scooping it up into his arms and cuddling it like a baby as if to calm it. Kiyomiko honestly didn't see what the problem was if he _had_ killed it. It would have made a decent lunch and all that white fur would have made a nice lining for a hat or some gloves... Wait.. White fur? Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed at the rabbit for a few seconds before something in her mind clicked. White rabbits weren't native to islands this far south, all the other rabbits she'd seen up to this point had been brown or red, white rabbits were only found in colder areas.. It had to be a pet. But the weather here had been perfect.. No, something was wrong again, she could feel it. That tingle down her spine, that excitement.. _anticipation_. Closing her eyes, Kiyomiko focused on the world around her, scents and sounds, dirt, trees, animals, rock, water, a person..._ metal_! The scent of metal was getting stronger and stronger as a whooshing sound started to get louder and louder in her ears. It was coming closer!

"_GET DOWN!_" Kiyomiko shouted as her body dropped to the ground, everyone else following suit reflexively to the severity of her command and all of a sudden, a huge sword, at least six feet long, flew through the air and lodged itself into a tree where Tazuna's head had been just seconds ago. Reacting on instinct, Kiyomiko rolled away and landed in a cat-like crouch, her fan already drawn and open as she glared at her attacker. A man was now standing on the blade, looking down at the group with a predatory stare, something that sent a thrill through her.

"Oh? A bunch of kids are protecting that old man, huh?" The man smelled like blood and seawater and his voice seemed to hold a hint of amusement even though his dark eyes narrowed, sweeping over the group one person at a time. Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed on him as a mist began to form, weaving through the trees like a white shadow. She recognized him. He was in her Bingo Book. Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist.. Before she could stop herself, she mouthed his name just as his eyes landed on her, lingering there for a moment before Kakashi took a step forward, blocking his view.

"If I remember correctly, you're Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist.." Kakashi stated and the man in question turned to look, Kiyomiko lightly squeezing her fan, the cold metal digging into her palms. Something about him seemed too confident, too cocky, even with this situation _technically_ being to his advantage.. Her mind started working quickly, running through possible explanations. They weren't surrounded, he was the only one.. Though, there was another scent but it was faint and far away..

"You've heard of me? I'm flattered." Zabuza seemed to smirk beneath the mask of bandages covering the lower half of his face before he reached down and grasped the grip of his sword, yanking it from the tree before he landed on the ground with the blade stabbed into the soil at his side. It was almost as tall as he was! A second passed before Kiyomiko's eyes widened slightly, seeing Kakashi tense before he reached up and adjusted his forehead protector, uncovering his eye to reveal a frighteningly familiar deep red iris, three tomoe circled around his pupil. "And you must be the Copy Ninja Kakashi, judging by your Sharingan.."

"Sharingan..? What's that?" Naruto asked, looking between Kakashi and Zabuza with an expression of worried curiousity, his body tensed as his brows furrowed slightly.

"Sharingan.. It's an occular jutsu that's _usually_ only found among the Uchiha clan.. With it, you can see through any genjutsu and copy almost any ninjutsu.." Sasuke frowned as he stared at Kakashi's back and Kiyomiko could see the distress in the boy's features, she could understand his confusion but she kept her mind on the battle ahead. She needed to focus.

"I think that's just about enough chatter." Zabuza drawled, his voice low and rough as he pulled his giant sword from the soil beside him, pointing it at Tazuna with an almost bored expression. "If I don't kill that old man, I don't get paid.. But it seems like I have to kill you first, Kakashi."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zabuza disappeared in the ever-thickening mist that rolled in from the sea, visibility nearly reduced to nothing until Kiyomiko could barely see where the rest of her team was standing, only faint silhouettes and shadows around her. _Calm down. This is just a mind game. You know what to do_. Taking a deep breath, Kiyomiko started to slowly back up, her geta silent against the ground beneath her as she made her way towards Tazuna's scent, listening to all of her senses until her back brushed up against something warm. Looking up over her shoulder, Kiyomiko saw a startled Tazuna right behind her, looking down at her with a fearful expression and she rolled her silver eyes, bringing a finger up to her lips, wordlessly telling him to be silent as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all circled around the man, weapons poised and at the ready.

"Where is he?!" Naruto hissed over one shoulder as his bright blue eyes frantically flickered around him, searching through the thick curtain of mist as the four Genin surrounded Tazuna in formation almost automatically.

"I want all of you to protect Tazuna." Kakashi's voice floated through the fog, sounding very close but Kiyomiko couldn't see him. "He'll come after me first. His name is Zabuza Momochi, a rogue ninja that defected from the Hidden Mist's ANBU squad. He's famous for his 'silent killing' techniques. All of you stay on your guard."

"Eight points.." Zabuza's perfectly calm voice filtered through the fog, eerily serious, some dangerous edge to his words that made Kiyomiko tense, holding her fan at the ready as her pale silver eyes sifted through the mist. If she was going to be of any use, she needed to erase herself!

"Huh..?" Sakura breathed, her voice wavering slightly with panic as she looked over to where Kiyomiko was standing. To her eyes, Kiyomiko was standing perfectly still, the edges of her silhouette beginning to blur into the fog, her breathing and even her heartbeat completely silent.

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart. Hitting anyone of these could mean instant death." Zabuza chuckled as he spoke, his voice sounding closer and closer through the fog but Kiyomiko remained calm. This was a mind-game. He was playing with them, trying to frighten them, and that wasn't going to work on her. Not after all she'd been subjected to. "Which organ do you wish to be struck at?"

There was a long stretch of silence, the air thick with tension and Kiyomiko looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke beside her, her eyes narrowing when she saw him. He was trembling and pale, his kunai wavering in his grip as he started to hyperventilate. It was the killing intent, Kiyomiko could feel it from Kakashi and from Zabuza but she had grown accustomed to such things over the years. She had forgotten just how frightening it had been the first time she'd sensed it. As silently as a ghost, Kiyomiko crept up behind Sasuke, resting one hand over his while she raised one arm around him, blocking his vision with the silk of her yukata sleeve, her body pressed against his back as she hugged him from behind. She didn't know why she did it, it just seemed like a very natural thing to do, as if she were calming a frightened child and he tensed for a second, his eyes widening before he relaxed, looking back at her.

"_Sasuke.. Stay strong._" Kiyomiko mouthed, every movement perfectly silent in the thick fog, where all she could see clearly in front of her was his face looking back at her. There was something strange in his gaze, surprise, yes but something else as well. There was no ice to his eyes, no shadows or darkness that usually haunted him, just.. Sasuke, looking back at her as she smiled slightly, a genuine smile. "_You can do this._"

"Sasuke.. Kiyomiko.." Kakashi's voice interrupted the moment and Kiyomiko quickly drew away, her sleeves fluttering from her movement as she returned to her position as if nothing had happened, her eyes finally finding Kakashi's form through the fog, the Jonin looking back over his shoulder at them. "Don't worry, I promise I will protect you with my life. I refuse to lose any more team members."

"A touching sentiment.." Zabuza's voice came from directly behind Kiyomiko and her eyes widened as she tensed, biting her lower lip. He had managed to get behind her because she had wasted time, foolishly worrying about Sasuke and he had snuck in when the fluttering of her sleeves had covered the sound of his footsteps.. He'd used her. The seeds of anger began to bloom in Kiyomiko's chest and time seemed to slow as she turned to look back, seeing his massive sword raised, his body poised in a stance, ready to kill all of them in one fell swoop. "But I wonder if you're fast enough.."

"If he's not, _I am!_" Kiyomiko's voice had barely been above a growl before it grew into a shout as she whirled around, kicking off of the ground as she brought her fan up, pouring her chakra into it's curious black spines. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura knew by her tone that there was an impending attack and they quickly ducked down, bringing Tazuna with them as Kiyomiko swung her fan in a massive arc, aiming directly for Zabuza as she flew backwards. He had less than a second's notice to react before she attacked head-on. "Futon: Kami Oroshi!"

Gale force winds suddenly tore through the thick veil of mist, blowing it away as a massive gust of frigid air swirled and whirled around itself, forming a screaming cyclone that bared down on Zabuza, tiny glimmers of light visible through the cyclone from miniscule needles made up of pure ice, gathered from the moisture present in the mist that Zabuza himself had created. At the last second, Zabuza brought up his huge sword and blocked, crouching behind it as the cyclone parted around the giant blade, splitting off in two directions and destroying ten or so trees behind him in a matter of seconds before the wind died. Kiyomiko let out a soft growl of frustration when she landed on the ground, her geta giving a solitary _click_ in the dirt, betraying her location and Zabuza looked around his blade, a single dark eye trained on her, filled with what she could only assume was fury and mild surprise. Kiyomiko allowed a grin to form on her face as she held her fan at the ready, though the emotion didn't reach her pale silver eyes.

Before Zabuza had a chance to attack again, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, taking advantage of the opportunity that Kiyomiko had bought him, standing directly behind the rogue ninja with a kunai piercing the man's side. Kiyomiko stared, eyes wide as she braced for the familiar scent of blood but instead of the hot coppery smell, there was only more saltwater and Kiyomiko tensed just one second before Zabuza's body melted into a puddle of water. A water clone! A second later and Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, slashing at the silver-haired Jonin's back in one great stroke only to reveal that Kakashi had been a water clone as well. Kiyomiko almost laughed at that, seeing Tazuna, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke standing and backing away from the battle, the three Genin surrounding Tazuna in formation but Kiyomiko had been cut off from the others, standing on the other side of the battle while Kakashi and Zabuza fought hand-to-hand for a moment.

But what was this oppressive sensation she was feeling? This chilling pressure on the back of her neck? A strange chakra hung heavily in the air and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes widened when another scent, the same as Zabuza's, reached her nose as she turned to look over her shoulder before she froze in place. Zabuza was standing there just a few feet off of the shore, funneling chakra into the still surface of the water beneath his feet, standing behind her while Kakashi was fighting another clone. No.. She knew that jutsu, she had been trapped by it before! This was really bad! Before she even had a chance to warn him, Zabuza's clone sent Kakashi flying backwards, right passed Kiyomiko and into the chakra-infused water.

"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!"

"Kakashi!" Kiyomiko cried, running towards the shoreline as she reached out to Kakashi, watching in slow motion as the real Zabuza drew the chakra-infused water around Kakashi in a perfect orb, isolating him from the rest of the team. Before Kiyomiko even reached the surface of the water, her vision of Kakashi was blocked by the chest of Zabuza's clone, suddenly appearing in front of her and then all at once Kiyomiko felt a blow connect with her ribs and she was sent flying backwards, landing in the damp earth in front of Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna.

"Kiyo-chan!" Naruto took a single step towards Kiyomiko, looking down at the slight, unmoving frame of his teammate with wide blue eyes, black hair pooling around her like silken puddles of ink, thin curls of milky white mist slowly forming in the air once again.

"Don't move!" Kiyomiko shouted suddenly, drawing in a shaky breath as she forced herself onto her hands and knees, one hand resting over the hardness that covered her torso. It was perfectly smooth against her skin and cold like ice before it slowly receeded back into her skin and a soft and dangerous growl rumbled from her throat. Yuki had protected her at the last second.. "Don't leave Tazuna's side!"

"But you're hurt!" Sakura cried, panic clear in her wavering voice even as Kiyomiko slowly hauled herself to her feet, looking back to see Sakura's wide eyes, as well as Tazuna's, Naruto's and even Sasuke looked worried. They had no idea.. what she was capable of.

"Hah! Don't worry, Princess. That little kick was just a love-tap!" Kiyomiko put on a fox-like smirk, trying to sound as cocky and arrogant as possible even though she was still holding her ribs in pain. Gradually, she straightened, standing upright as she took a few backwards steps through the fog towards her friends' voices, her sharp silver eyes scanning through the mist as she came to a stop beside her team, fan drawn and at the ready. "Alright, so here's the situation. Kakashi's captured and Zabuza has a clone running around here somewhere. Any bright ideas?"

"What are you guys doing?! _Run_!" Kakashi's shout echoed from within his water prison and Kiyomiko could see him ahead of her, still struggling to free himself but while the real Zabuza stood with one hand inside the orb of swirling water, his clone appearing between her and the shore as a block. This was gunna be tough.. "This battle was decided the moment I got caught! If you don't run now, you'll die!"

"Oh, way to have faith in your team, Kakashi." Kiyomiko's fox-like smirk widened while her pale silver eyes narrowed, her slender body relaxing into a stance that the Jonin was unfamiliar with, her fan raised and loosely held in one delicate hand.

"The option to run was taken away the moment you got caught, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke interjected, a slight smirk on his face when he saw Kiyomiko's expression. He recognized her stance, recognized it as a fighting style and not a dance as she had originally portrayed it. "We only have one option left."

"So.. We're going to stay and fight..?" Sakura asked, sounding a little unsure as she looked at the faces of her teammates.

"That's about the gist of it. Stay, fight and _possibly_ die.. Or run and almost _positively_ die. Sounds legit." Kiyomiko chuckled, her pale silver eyes never straying from Zabuza's clone before her voice lowered somewhat, taking on a slightly serious edge. "_Ne.._ I've seen that technique before. If we work together, we can get Zabuza away from the water and Kakashi will be freed but it's risky with that clone in the way.."

"Oh! Oh! I have an idea! Kiyo-chan, Sasuke, lend me your ear!" Naruto grinned suddenly beckoning them closer as he spoke, his voice lowered while he spoke, Sasuke's eyes widening while Kiyomiko chuckled slightly. It was random, crazy, bordering on suicidal.. but it just might work. At the very least, it was worth a try.

"The four of you wear forehead protectors as if you think you're all ninja but a _real_ ninja is someone who has gone through numerous life and death situations." Zabuza's clone smirked, intent to kill practically rolling off of him in waves as he looked at Kiyomiko, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura as they surrounded Tazuna. "I refuse to consider any of you _brats_ ninjas until you're listed in my Bingo Book!"

"What are you kids doing?! Don't forget the mission!" Kakashi shouted again, his panicked voice sounding almost hollow, resonating within the swirling orb of water that he was trapped within. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other for a moment before they glanced back at Tazuna, the man they had been ordered to protect. Obviously, there would be a little conflict in planning there..

"Hey.. Old man.." Naruto began, looking up at Tazuna with an almost grim expression, his bright blue eyes abnormally serious. "Will you be alright here with just Sakura-chan?"

"Ha! Don't worry about me!" Tazuna chuckled faintly, worry still apparent in his voice as he forced a light laugh, rubbing the back of his head as he tried to sound reassuring. He was showing a remarkable amount of bravery for a man who might soon die. Kiyomiko might feel a little more respect for the man.. Maybe. "Go on and save your sensei."

"Alright!" Naruto grinned, turning back to face Zabuza's clone with a new light of hope in his bright blue eyes, a determined expression coloring his features as he brought his hands up and started to form seals. "Let's go wild!"

All of a sudden, there was a collection of small explosions and when the smoke cleared some, there were at least thirty identical copies of Naruto standing around in a half circle in front of Zabuza's clone, kunai drawn and ready, taunting him as they began the charge. As all of the Naruto's were jumping on Zabuza's clone in a giant dogpile of orange, Kiyomiko followed her instructions and completely disappeared in the remains of the thin mist, adopting her own silent killing techniques as she silenced her breathing and her heartbeat, moving as quietly as a ghost as she circled around the battle. For a few moments, everything was silent until an annoyed growl came from within the pile of Naruto's, growing in volume before Naruto's clones began to shift and lose their balance. In one grand motion, Zabuza shoved all of the identical boys off of him, sending them flying as he slashed at them with his massive sword, dispatching many of them with ease. Now it was Sasuke's turn.

"Fuma Shuriken.." Sasuke's cool and confident voice reached Kiyomiko as she hid and waited, watching the battle as the boy readied a massive black shuriken, his black eyes almost deadly as he waited for the last of Naruto's clones to get out of the way before he promptly disappeared, reappearing again in mid-air as he launched the massive shuriken with all of his strength. It flew at a frightening speed, baring down on Zabuza's clone only to veer off-course at the last second, curving around the clone before it corrected, aiming directly for the real Zabuza. Now it was Kiyomiko's turn.

"Suiton: Suiben!" Kiyomiko's voice filtered through the mist, deadly calm as three thin tendrils of freezing cold water whipped out of the fog, wrapping around the wrists, ankles and neck of Zabuza's clone, preventing him from moving completely. The clone looked up sharply just as Kiyomiko's form fully materialized from the mist, a triumphant grin on her impish face as if she'd just played the winning move to their game. In that moment, Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes shone like sharp steel as the clone's eyes widened slightly. Of course, he would be surprised. A slip of a girl, who couldn't have been older than thirteen, was using a technique developed by the Hidden Mist's hunter-nin, to keep him bound, her voice quiet and sweet. "Ooh, so sorry, but you're not going anywhere."

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Just as Kiyomiko heard Sasuke's voice, a roaring wave of heat seared the air as a stream of fire swept over Zabuza's clone, evaporating him and Kiyomiko's water bonds in one fell swoop, burning away a large expanse of the thick white mist in the process. Kiyomiko didn't even flinch at the sudden heat, she just watched until the clone disappeared in the flames before she released her technique, tendrils of water falling slack into long puddles at her feet before the fire died away.

The battle was far from over, however. Now it was Naruto's turn and Kiyomiko turned her attention back to his battle just in time to see the black shuriken that Sasuke had thrown, soaring towards the real Zabuza as he stood on the surface of the water, one hand still rested inside the swirling orb of chakra-infused seawater that held Kakashi prisoner. Just when the shuriken was about to hit, Zabuza dodged, jumping over the giant shuriken with an amused chuckle, assuming that would be the end of it. He was dead wrong. At the last second, the giant shuriken exploded into a ball of orange and Naruto appeared directly behind Zabuza, the boy whipping a kunai right at the man's arm. Zabuza had underestimated them and he would pay dearly for his mistake.

Reacting, Zabuza drew his hand away from the swirling orb of water to dodge Naruto's kunai, releasing Kakashi in the process as Naruto landed in the water. In a split second, Zabuza and Kakashi were fighting again but this time was different. Kakashi was serious now and Kiyomiko smirked slightly as she turned, walking back towards Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna, checking them over for any wounds. They were all fine and Kiyomiko let out a soft sigh of relief and something akin to contentment as a genuine smile appeared on her impish features, reaching up and knitting her fingers together behind her head.

"I have to admit, that was pretty impressive." Kiyomiko smirked at Sasuke as the boy turned to look at her, his dark eyes slightly wider than before when he saw her expression. "You really outdid yourself with that fire jutsu, Sasuke. You must have trained for a long time to be able to achieve that size."

"Hn.." Sasuke nodded once, averting his gaze elsewhere as his posture stiffened a little, as if he were unaccustomed to hearing such praise from her of all people, and Kiyomiko just chuckled slightly. "You weren't that bad yourse-!"

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko tensed, feeling the air change behind her and she acted on instinct, reaching out and grabbing onto Sasuke and Sakura's hands. Sasuke was confused for a fraction of a second before he saw what was behind her and he reacted as well, grabbing onto Tazuna just before a massive wall of water swept up over the shoreline and crashed down on them. Large tress bent and swayed while smaller trees were uprooted and washed away completely and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes opened underwater to see her companions' startled faces as they held their breath and tried to control their direction in the raging water. Water was _her_ element, there was no way in hell that she'd let them get hurt by it! With an inward growl, Kiyomiko's grip tightened on Sasuke and Sakura's hands as her feet slid across the soggy ground a split second before she channeled chakra into her legs and kicked off roughly, propelling the group upwards to the water's surface.

Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were coughing and spluttering from the water as Kiyomiko came to rest on the surface of the wavering water, leading the group to a sturdy-looking tree before the wave began to retreat. Kiyomiko made sure they all had a decent grip on the branches so they wouldn't be swept away as the wave began to flow back towards the sea but she was tense, her pale silver eyes sharp as she scanned the water. She couldn't see Naruto or Kakashi anywhere! As soon as the wave had retreated back to the sea, Kiyomiko jumped down from the tree, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to tend to Tazuna while she jogged through the water-logged forest, her sense of smell completely useless when every scent had been washed away by the sea. However, her hearing had not been so crippled. She could hear voices nearby and she quickened her pace, wheeling around a tree just in time to see Naruto and Kakashi, standing a few feet away from an unfamiliar boy wearing a mask of a Hidden Mist Hunter-nin.

The boy was crouching over the body of Zabuza, speaking to Kakashi and Naruto in a low and monotone voice before he put up a hand and formed a seal. Just then, it was like time had slowed as the clouds parted away from the sun just enough for a few rays of pale golden light to spill down on the world and two glittering dots caught Kiyomiko's attention, her eyes narrowing before something in her mind clicked. There were two senbon needles sticking out of Zabuza's neck and Kiyomiko felt a sick feeling curling within her as she broke into a run, a low growl rumbling through her as the boy turned to look at her in slow motion.

"Don't you dare!" Kiyomiko shouted but her command fell on deaf ears, the boy was already disappearing in a whirlwind of ice and snow, taking Zabuza's body with him. Kiyomiko reached the place where the boy had disappeared a second later and she slid to a halt in a cat-like crouch, one hand on the soaked earth beneath her as she frantically looked around for the boy but his scent was already long-gone. Suddenly aware that Kakashi and Naruto were staring at her, Kiyomiko's expression of frustration and anger relaxed into one of half-calm and mild irritation, hiding her true emotions as best she could as she stood upright, folding her arms across her chest as a sharp chill formed in the air.

"Kiyo-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto appeared beside her with a concerned expression and Kiyomiko let her head tilt to one side, betraying exhaustion as she swept a hand through her long black hair, wet and clinging to her torso, her soaking wet yukata weighing heavily on her shoulders. For Naruto's sake, Kiyomiko forced herself into a calm, the chill in the air gradually abating as Kakashi walked up to her other side, looking dangerously exhausted.

"It's nothing, Naruto.. Probably just my imagination." Kiyomiko lied with a soft sigh as Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna appeared through the trees, walking over to the rest of the group as Kiyomiko just shook her head and gave Naruto a lazy, dismissive wave. There was a brief exchange of confused glances but Kiyomiko ignored them. Something inside her told her that the battle wasn't over yet, but there was nothing that she could do right now. She was exhausted and everyone else looked pretty beaten up too, with the exception of Sakura and Tazuna, who only got a little wet.

"Well, I guess that's it then, huh?" Sakura said, smoothing her dress and trying to brush away some wet clumps of dirt and leaves before she eventually gave up. Kiyomiko glanced back up at Kakashi once again before she frowned, noticing the bags forming under his eyes, his eyelids drooping, his skin a few shades lighter than normal.. Even his posture said that he was exhausted, though he was trying to hide it.

"Let's get Tazuna back home.." Kakashi sighed as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura nodded, falling into their usual formation with Tazuna walking beside Sakura while Kiyomiko walked _directly_ beside Kakashi, her arms folded across her chest as she stared down at the path ahead without looking at him. Kakashi glanced down at her, seemingly noticing how perfectly her pace matched his, step for step, while she remained at the same distance as they walked together and he probably thought it was rather curious... Just before the sudden exhaustion hit him and he stumbled, his legs giving out. In a fraction of a second, Kiyomiko was standing in front of him, her hands in her sleeves as the Jonin fell over her back, his chin resting on her shoulder while she supported his weight with a surprising ease.

"_Baka_.. You pushed yourself too hard." Kiyomiko whispered quietly as the slight traces of a smile appeared on her youthful features, seeing Kakashi looking at her from the corner of her vision as she looked straight ahead, seeing her teammates turn back with shock on their faces. Before the Jonin fully slipped unconscious, Kiyomiko cast him a sidelong glance, knowing he could still hear her as his eyes began to close. "Go ahead and rest, Baka-sensei. I'll watch over them until you recover."

"_Kakashi-sensei!_" Naruto and Sakura cried in unison, running back towards Kiyomiko as Kakashi finally let go, his eyes closing completely as the group circled around. Kiyomiko gave a soft sigh as her expression relaxed into one of indifference, lowering herself slowly as she turned and laid Kakashi down on his back in the wet grass. Kneeling down, Kiyomiko leaned over the Jonin as she reached over and adjusted Kakashi's forehead protector, slipping it down to cover his left eye again.

"He used up too much chakra during the battle but he'll be fine after he rests for a while." Kiyomiko said as she slowly stood, folding her arms across her chest as she looked over her teammates, taking charge of the situation like a seasoned general. "Sasuke, climb one of these trees and take point. If you see _anything_ moving out there that isn't one of us, let me know right away. Sakura and Tazuna, I need you to scout out the area for any long, straight branches, at least six or seven inches around and six feet long. We'll need four of them, along with as much long grass or leaves as you can carry. Naruto, go through everyone's packs and bring me all of the travel blankets."

"Eh?! Kiyo-chan, what are we doing?!" Sakura blinked, a little surprised by Kiyomiko's sudden tone as the girl took off her pack and knelt down, pulling out her travel blanket and a few spools of wire string, placing her knapsack under Kakashi's head like a pillow. "Don't we have to be leaving soon?!"

"And what would we do about Kakashi in the meantime?" Kiyomiko countered smoothly as Sasuke and Naruto already accepted their orders, doing as they were told. Sasuke quickly climbed up the nearest tree, standing on one of the branches as he surveyed the area while Naruto started gathering everyone's blankets into a pile. "No, it will be dark soon and Kakashi is soaking wet from the seawater. If we don't hurry, he'll get sick and we'll be one man down on the team. Go and get me what I asked for so I can make a stretcher that we can use to carry him."

Seemingly understanding Kiyomiko's logic now, Sakura and Tazuna hurried off into the half-destroyed forest in search of their quarry while Kiyomiko got a small campfire going while Naruto hung the thin travel blankets from nearby branches to dry. While everyone was away, Kiyomiko knelt over Kakashi with a blank expression as she tended to the minor wounds he'd sustained during his battle with Zabuza. It was mostly a few bumps and bruises, the most serious was the cuts on the back of his hand when Kakashi blocked the real shuriken. They would get infected if she didn't do something soon and Kiyomiko bit down on her lower lip before casting a quick glance around. Sasuke was looking the other way and Sakura and Tazuna were nowhere in sight while Naruto was trying to make the blankets dry faster by waving them around. It was safe enough.

Carefully removing Kakashi's glove, Kiyomiko held one hand over his wounds and a dim glow of green chakra poured forth from her fingertips. A slight smile appeared on Kiyomiko's face as she watched the cuts begin to heal themselves, skin slowly knitting itself back together while the bruises faded. When she was done, Kiyomiko sat back with a mildly pleased expression as she looked down at her handiwork. She'd gotten to it so fast that there wasn't even a scar left behind and she was rather proud of herself for that. Almost as soon as she sat back, Sakura and Tazuna returned, Tazuna carrying four long pole-like branches under one arm and a bundle of tall grass in the other while Sakura carried two large bundles of tall grass.

Once she had everything she needed, Kiyomiko called everyone together as she began to construct a makeshift stretcher. First, she used the wire string to lash the branches together into two sturdy poles that had a small amount of give to them, then she skillfully formed a sort of hammock out of the wire string between the two reinforced poles, laying two of the travel blankets and then a thick layer of grasses over the wires to protect Kakashi from getting cut. After that, Sasuke and Naruto laid Kakashi on the stretcher while Kiyomiko and Sakura draped the last two blankets over him, Tazuna standing back and watching the children work with a look of mild surprise at how organized they were and how quickly they were able to put something as complex as a stretcher together from little more than branches, wire and leaves.

Once Kakashi was settled on the stretcher, Kiyomiko and Naruto took positions on either side of the stretcher while Sakura put out the campfire and buried the remains under a thin layer of dirt and soggy grass. A few minutes later, they were off with Sasuke taking the lead, Sakura and Tazuna in the middle while Naruto and Kiyomiko carried Kakashi in the back of the group. The trip to Tazuna's house was blessedly uneventful and there was very little complaining as the sun started to set behind them. Despite everything, they made it to Tazuna's house in time for dinner.

-(o.o)-

After reaching Tazuna's house and putting Kakashi to bed in a guest room, Kiyomiko quickly made herself busy with helping Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, with the chores around the house while enlisting the help of her teammates. Often times, Kiyomiko would help to prepare the meals and wash the dishes when she wasn't tending to Kakashi, while Sasuke and Naruto would chop and gather firewood under Kiyomiko's false pretense of training, which she was rather proud of by the way, while Sakura helped out with the laundry and watching over Tsunami's son, Inari. When the chores had been taken care of, the four Genin of Team Seven would take turns, watching over Tazuna and his family in shifts, though Kiyomiko always stayed at Tazuna's house to look after Kakashi and, since she seemed to know what she was doing, the rest of the team deemed that as acceptable. Two days had passed in relative peace but, when no one could see her, Kiyomiko still looked... _agitated_.

"_You sense something, don't you?_" Yuki's voice whispered in Kiyomiko's mind and the slender girl paused, looking down at the jagged kunai she held in one hand, a white cloth with cleaning solution on it in the other. Sunlight streamed through the shoji screen windows above her as she sat in a corner, rows of identical weapons neatly lined up before her, a thick haze of scented smoke wafting through the room from the incense burner near Kakashi's futon a few feet away. "_You've been on edge for the last three days. You know that man is still alive, don't you?_"

"_Yes, I know. After all, senbon needles are my preferred weapon second to my fan.. I know that Zabuza is still alive somewhere, recovering._" Kiyomiko responded mentally, her pale silver eyes losing focus as she lowered her hands to her lap, her unseeing gaze resting on the tatami mat floor. "_That boy may have been dressed up like a Hunter but he uses Senbon as well.. and he hit Zabuza's neck in the same place that Father tried to hit me.. He was helping Zabuza._"

"_Yet you won't go and search for them?_" Yuki's voice asked, causing Kiyomiko to sigh softly, her unseeing silver eyes flicking up to where Kakashi was laying. The Jonin was recovering slowly, he hadn't woken up once since they had arrived at Tazuna's house, but he was looking better than he had before, which was a good sign. "_You could find them easily enough.._"

"_No, I won't go and search for them. I told Kakashi that I would watch over the others until he recovered and I'll stand by my word._" Kiyomiko answered softly, her gaze lowering to the floor in front of her once again. "_Besides, it would just seem suspicious if I took off, wouldn't it? I may be a Genin for Konoha now but I'm still in hiding, regardless of the fact that I'm running missions again. I can't take the risk that Father.. may be nearby.. I don't want to take chances anymore._"

"_You care for them_." Yuki's voice stated quietly and Kiyomiko rolled her eyes. Of course she cared for her team, that went without saying. She hadn't been intending to let herself get so close to them, not in the beginning, but still.. They had managed to make her care somehow and now that those feelings had been kindled, there was no going back to the way she was before. She couldn't be the cold and unfeeling girl she once was, no matter how hard she may try. "_It's not a flaw.. you know. Caring for someone isn't a weakness.._"

"_No, but it can still be exploited. Father taught me that._" Kiyomiko ended the mental conversation by blinking the world back into focus, hearing a muffled sigh from somewhere very close, her pale silver eyes landing on Kakashi's still form just in time to see him slowly stir. "Good morning, Kakashi. Don't move around too much, you're still recovering."

"Kiyomiko?.. Where are you?" Kakashi asked, his words groggy and hoarse from sleep as he turned his head slightly, his unfocused eyes landing on her. She was sitting cross-legged in the corner, not three feet away from the futon he laid upon, her pale silver eyes trained on him in an almost calculating expression before she seemed to deem something acceptable, reaching up to the window above her and sliding the shoji screen panel open, letting in fresh air and dispersing the thick smoke of the incense. Despite being half-awake, Kakashi seemed to notice the distinctly herbal smell that hung thick in the air. "Medicinal incense..? That's rare.."

"How else was I supposed to make you better? I couldn't exactly make you drink anything while you were unconscious and I had a feeling that you didn't want me to lower your mask anyway." Kiyomiko drawled as she set down her jagged kunai beside the rest of it's kin, setting the damp cloth in a small dish beside a glass bottle of cleaning solution, clear liquid within. "That's not to say that Naruto hasn't _tried_ to sneak a peek at your face while you were resting but don't worry, I chased him off first. I know the importance of a mask when I see one."

"Heh.. _Domo_.." Kakashi chuckled faintly, raising a hand to his forehead with a faint groan before he paused, looking up at the back of his bare hand with a quirked brow before he glanced over at the incense burner beside his futon and then up at Kiyomiko, who wore an expression of '_don't ask_'. He seemed to understand, changing the topic. "So, where is everyone? I don't sense anyone around but us."

"Naruto and Sasuke were being idiots again so I sent them outside to train." Kiyomiko replied easily, earning her a 'what-were-you-thinking' glance from Kakashi before she held up a hand and started to explain. "I made a game of it. I told them that the first one to make it back with sixty edible mushrooms won't have to help me make dinner tonight. Tazuna's daughter and grandson are with them as well, making sure they don't cause any trouble for the islanders. As for Tazuna, he and Sakura went to the market to pick up meat and rice for dinner tonight. They should all be coming back sometime soon."

"How long have we been here?" Kakashi asked as he tried to sit up but Kiyomiko shot him a sharp glare, causing the Jonin to lay back down again with a nervous chuckle. For a little girl, she could be pretty scary sometimes..

"A little over two days. You collapsed after your battle with Zabuza." Kiyomiko answered, packing away the weapons around her into little pouches before she slipped them all into her black canvas knapsack, slipping the bottle of cleaning solution into a holster-like pocket inside the bag before she closed it. "Like I told you before you lost consciousness, I've been watching over everyone and taking care of things while you've been resting."

"Taking care of things?" Kakashi asked again and Kiyomiko frowned slightly, feeling a little like she was playing twenty-questions as she knelt down beside Kakashi and gently helped him up into a sitting position before she handed him a small clay cup with a rich red colored liquid within it. Kakashi quirked a brow before Kiyomiko covered her eyes with her hands and she heard his slight chuckle. "You look like a kid playing hide-and-seek when you do that."

"Just shut up and drink it before I stop caring about your personal preferences." Kiyomiko sighed in a drawling tone. "And to answer your question, we've all been helping out Tazuna and his family with chores and errands for the last two days. Tazuna hasn't gone to work on the bridge since we arrived because I decided it would be best to wait until you recovered first. I've been having the rest of the team follow him around in shifts, alternating between looking after his family here at the house."

"I'm impressed that you got your teammates to agree to all that." Kakashi chuckled slightly before Kiyomiko heard a sipping sound and a slight cough and she smirked, her eyes still covered, once again feeling a little twinge of satisfaction before Kakashi seemed to down the cup of medicine in one go. "Ugh.. It's safe to look now. Do I even want to know what I just drank?"

"Probably not. And anyway, I don't think anyone has forgotten that little incident with that run-away cat back in Konoha. I can be very _persuasive_ when I need to be." Kiyomiko lowered her hands to her lap and opened her eyes to see Kakashi smoothing his mask back over the lower half of his face, his empty cup set on the floor beside his futon. "That medicine will help you feel less like you've been dropped off a cliff and more like you're just hungover, probably by dinner time. Besides.. The best medicines always taste bitter."

"Then I'm surprised I'm not fully healed already." Kakashi gave an exhausted sigh, his shoulders drooping and his head lowering slightly as he looked at the empty clay cup beside him with an expression of disdain. "That was awful."

"Don't be so dramatic." Kiyomiko drawled, lightly tapping Kakashi on the top of the head as if she were scolding a very young child as she stood and stretched, raising her arms high up over her head and slightly bending at the waist before she paused, a curious expression on her face as she sniffed the air. "Oh.. They're back earlier than I expected.. I knew I should have hidden those mushrooms better."

"Eh..?" Kakashi blinked, looking up at the girl's mysterious smirk but he didn't have a chance to question her further before the front door opened in the other room and Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke filed in, Tazuna holding two large baskets filled to the brim with fresh mushrooms in one hand, a burlap sack of rice over one shoulder and a package of brown paper under his arm, Tsunami and Inari following the man into the kitchen.

"Well, now that everyone is back and Kakashi is awake, I'm going to go and enjoy a few moments of freedom before I have to be back to make dinner." Kiyomiko sighed as she scooped up her knapsack and hopped up into the frame of the open window with a fox-like smirk. "_Ja na!_"

"Kiyomi-!" Kakashi called after her but it was no use, she was already out of the window and out of ear-shot before he could even finish her name. She'd been sitting in the same room for the last two days and she was _bored_. Besides, she could pick some herbs and find some wild vegetables while she was out.

The mid-day sun was high overhead and shining brightly, a warm light spilling through the thin canopy of foliage over her head as Kiyomiko walked, her bare feet silent in the grass and her long black hair swaying in the gentle breeze, following her nose towards the scents of edible plants and herbs. Reaching into her knapsack, Kiyomiko pulled out a large bundle of folded canvas, shaking it out to reveal that it was a bag and she smirked when she came to a stop in a shady area of the forest where the soil was slightly more damp than anywhere else, thin green shoots growing up out of the earth. Giving a happily little hum, Kiyomiko knelt down and started to harvest the wild onions and little shoots of wild garlic, brushing the dirt from them before she set them into her bag and moved on, leaving behind an ample supply for anyone else in the forest. She didn't need much, after all.

After walking for a while, Kiyomiko came to a large clearing where the sun bathed everything in a bright golden light and she followed her nose directly to her quarry. The field was dotted with _hundreds_ of round yellow flowers and Kiyomiko knelt down, drawing a kunai from her sleeve as she stripped away a large collection of the dandelion leaves, dropping them into her bag as well. By now, her bag was nearly half full and she stood up with a happy sigh, closing her eyes as she lifted her nose to the wind, sifting through the scents with a soft smile. She was alone in a forest on an island surrounded by water on all sides. She couldn't be happier. Scratch that, _she could_. Kiyomiko's soft smile turned into a grin as she gathered up her bag and started walking towards a sweet, familiar floral scent. Walking out of the trees, Kiyomiko's grin widened when she saw a large field ahead of her, filled by plants with large grey-green spear-tip-shaped leaves with wavy edges and huge seven-petalled purple flowers. Eggplants! Kiyomiko may or may not have squealed with delight upon seeing the field.

When she stepped into the wild field, she was almost completely hidden among the plants that grew almost as tall as she was, using her kunai to carefully cut away fruit after fruit, all of them bearing a deep glossy purple skin that gleamed in the light of the late-afternoon sun. She made sure that the plants would survive after harvesting, her nimble fingers gentle and deft as she carefully cut away a few dozen sprigs of the purple flowers to put in a vase later, slipping one particularly large flower behind her ear. Yes, she knew that was girly and she didn't care. Next on the list, now that her bag was almost full, was the scent that had been driving her mad since she arrived inside the forest and Kiyomiko left the field of eggplants behind, following her nose to a thick and shady part of the forest. The trees here grew tall and wide, light green leaves and pale-colored bark covering the massive trees while round green fruits the size of tangerines hung heavily on the branches, splitting open to reveal the walnuts inside.

Almost as if she were some kind of strange monkey, Kiyomiko easily climbed through the branches, a childlike smile on her face as she hung upside-down, her legs wrapped around a high branch as she picked handfuls of fresh walnuts and dropped them into her canvas bag. Now that she had wild onions and garlic, dandelion, eggplants _and_ walnuts, she was set to make tonight's dinner a feast and Kiyomiko quickly tied the canvas bag closed as best she could before slinging it over her shoulder. Hooking her arm around the branch she clung to, Kiyomiko relaxed her legs and let herself dangle there for a moment by one arm before her bare toes brushed up against a lower branch and she let herself drop. Landing on the branch, she balanced like an acrobat walking on a tightrope with a small smile on her face before she turned and sat down on the low branch, one leg curled beneath her while the other hung from the branch, her long black hair swaying in the gentle breeze as she faced the setting sun. She had spent over half of the day hidden in the forest and she was so happy.

A spotty mixture of shadow and orange light from the setting sun danced through the forest and Kiyomiko swept a delicate hand through her long black hair as a soft smile played on her youthful face. She couldn't sense anyone around for miles and Kiyomiko felt as if this was the first time in a very long while that she could be herself without question, let the mask slip just enough that she could breathe easier. Setting her bags on the branch beside her, Kiyomiko opened up her knapsack and reached into it, withdrawing a long and thin object wrapped in a white silk bag, red silk cords criss-crossing over it. Sitting upright, Kiyomiko unwrapped the object to reveal an ancient-looking flute, delicately carved with intricate snowflakes that looked as if they could have been real, etched into the pale wood. One last glance around ensured that she was alone and Kiyomiko closed her pale silver eyes and brought the flute to her lips, feeling the gentle spring breeze against her skin, breathing in the salt air of the ocean all around her, feeling the tree slightly swaying beneath her as if it were rocking her to sleep with the setting sun.

A single breath and a soft note was heard, something like a soft sigh before the notes began to flow from her lips and fingers as she played, her eyes closed as the song seemingly played itself, using _her_ as the instrument instead of the other way around. It was a quiet song, gentle and innocent, a lullaby for the forest that she had learned long ago but she couldn't remember where. She could feel Yuki's wind-born chakra humming inside her and she allowed herself to relax, chakra manifesting itself in the form of a cool breeze that seemed to curl around her, twirling and whirling as if it were dancing through the trees, ruffling her long black hair and the long sleeves of her white silk yukata as she played her flute for the wind and forest. The tone of the notes was soft and tender, almost like words of friendship and love, the kindness that Kiyomiko kept locked away inside her heart, the words that she could not say, feelings she could not willingly express. All of it was poured into the notes and an entrancing song flowed forth from the flute as the sun slowly lowered in the western sky, barely brushing against the horizon. As the notes began to slow, so too did the innocent breeze, returning to swirl around her like a gentle breath of cold air against her skin as the last note was played, once again a soft sigh through the flute.

As Kiyomiko lowered the flute from her lips, giving it a delicate twirl in her nimble fingers before she lowered it into her lap, she opened her eyes with a soft smile on her face. It had been so long since she had been able to.. just _breathe_.. It was so hard keeping her masks on all the time, pretending to be this or acting like that, always trying to keep her roles straight in her own mind. Yes, most often she acted like she didn't care but that was all it was. An act. She kept her true feelings hidden in a dark part of her heart so they were never used against her, so she was never betrayed, never hurt again, not like how her father had hurt her. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko slipped the flute back into it's white silk bag, criss-crossing the red silk cords around it before she put it back in her knapsack. Swinging her knapsack and the canvas bag of food over each shoulder, Kiyomiko let herself slip backwards on her branch and fall, spinning into a catlike crouch before she slowed her descent with a cushion of her pale blue chakra, bursting forth like a gust of cold wind as her bare feet touched the grass.

Just as she turned to start walking back to Tazuna's house, she froze, her pale silver eyes going wide as a scent reached a nose, seeing a pair of large brown eyes looking back at her. It was.. a boy?.. A very feminine-looking boy, standing at the base of the walnut tree she'd just dropped from, wearing a pale pink sleeveless kimono with a few large black tomoe painted onto it. His deep brown eyes were wide as he looked at her, glossy black hair hanging level with his shoulders, though looking a little windswept now, and he was carrying a basket full of freshly-picked herbs. How.. did she not notice him before? She had been so careful.. There hadn't been another person around her for miles when she started playing her flute, so why.. how..

"Ah! _Gomen, nii-chan_!" Kiyomiko smiled suddenly, her posture reflection a touch of absent-mindedness, like a fanciful youth as she rubbed the back of her head and forced a light blush to her cheeks. She quickly hid her unease behind another mask. "I hope I didn't scare you, dropping from the tree like that. Are you alright?"

"Uh.. N-no, I'm fine. I was just passing through the forest, gathering herbs, when I heard your flute.." The boy blinked, seemingly slowly recovering from the surprise of seeing Kiyomiko.. well, being _Kiyomiko_, a slight smile appearing on his _very_ feminine face as he looked her over. "You looked like you were in a very peaceful place when you were playing that I just didn't have the heart to call out to you. It was really very beautiful. You must have practiced very hard. Did you learn to play for anyone special?"

"Anyone special..?" Kiyomiko paused for a moment, her fingers thread into her hair in an attempt to smooth it as she looked back at the boy. An image flashed in her mind and she fought the recoil, forcing her smile as her pale silver eyes darkened a shade. "Yes, actually... But.. It seemed as though he only cared for my abilities in combat. It was a long time ago.."

"Your abilities in combat..?" The boy's eyes widened slightly as he looked her over, his deep brown eyes landing on the forehead protector loosely tied around the bandages that covered her neck, concealing her scars. "You're a kunoichi? But you.."

"Don't look old enough, don't look strong enough?" Kiyomiko let a playful grin dance on her face for a moment as she listed off two of the most common surprised replies she'd heard in her short lifetime. The boy seemed a little taken aback as he watched her half-turn, her pale silver eyes glancing to the setting sun before they lowered, her smile fading. "Looks can be decieving, I'm afraid.. I can tell that you're a shinobi too, even though you don't wear a village symbol. You have faint scars on your hands from senbon and I can smell the weapon polish.."

"Eh..? What are you-?"

"_Ne..._ You're gathering those herbs to help someone, aren't you? I recognize them by their leaves. They're primarily used to relieve pain from _atrophied muscles_." Kiyomiko asked with a sigh, her expression slipping back into one of disinterest as she reached up and knit her fingers behind her head, resting her weight on her right foot as she turned and looked back at the boy. He was tense, looking at her with familiar eyes, the eyes of a predator, but she didn't shy away from his gaze. Instead, she met it evenly, returned it with an unwavering silver stare of her own. "Listen.. I'd rather not fight today if I don't have to. I've been awake for the last two days straight, tending to the various wounds of my teammates and looking after a household with a small child. I'm exhausted, hungry, my temper is wearing thin and I can't fight at my full potential in good conscience. Not on an island this small where I could potentially harm innocent civilians."

"What are you suggesting?" The boy asked, his dark brown eyes narrowed, a flicker of surprise in their depths as he looked at Kiyomiko, the setting sun dipping below the horizon and bathing the forest around them in deep shadows.

"A temporary cease-fire, between two trust-worthy individuals." Kiyomiko said simply, holding out an empty hand as an offer to shake his. "We'll ignore each other for now, tend to the wounds of those we care about and when everyone is back on their feet again, we'll forget that we ever saw each other. After tonight, I'll stay on my side of the island and you can stay on yours, without worry of attack from either side. It's a fair agreement.. wouldn't you say?"

"A truce... then.." The boy said quietly, his posture relaxing slightly as he held out his hand in return, almost apprehensively before Kiyomiko took his hand in hers, no weapons drawn, no seals formed, no danger behind her touch. A gentle breeze swept through the forest around them and they shook each other's hand, forming an agreement between them before they drew back their hands, the boy's brows furrowing in a slightly puzzled frown. "You're not like the others.. are you?"

"Hn.. No, not at all." Kiyomiko allowed a smirk to appear on her face as she lowered her hands to her sides and turned towards Tazuna's house, her footsteps silent in the grass as the boy looked at her and she cast him a sidelong stare, a trace of bitterness in her eyes before they lowered. "I'm nothing like them. They've known only light their entire lives.. whereas I was raised in darkness."

"Then why are you with them?" The boy asked, the two figures standing still in the darkened forest as the night creatures rose around them, the lilting cries of the nightingales singing in the distance. "Why are you protecting them?"

"Isn't that what humans are supposed to do?" Kiyomiko asked, though her words were rhetorical, mostly spoken to herself as her gaze rested on the ankle-high grass in front of her. "I've spent so much of my life living as a weapon.. that I don't know anything about the affairs or emotions of normal people. For so long, all I cared about was protecting my father, working for him, fighting for him, making his dreams come true.. But.. All of that was taken away from me.. when he turned on me."

The temperature around Kiyomiko had begun to drop, a thin veil of frost forming at her feet as she spoke and she heard the boy's breath hitch in his throat, she could feel his eyes on her but she didn't look back. She donned a mask of calm as she raised her eyes to the forest, took a step forward and promptly disappeared in a whirling cyclone of freezing air, snow and ice scattering around where she had just been standing. A second later, Kiyomiko appeared again on the grassy cliffs behind Tazuna's house, the smell of tea mingling with the scents of her teammates reaching her nose and she relaxed slightly. That night, a pact had been made between two shinobi of equal standing, a temporary truce. Kiyomiko would honor her end of the bargain and she knew.. the boy would too.

* * *

The song that Kiyomiko played on the flute was called Komoriuta (Lullaby) by Hazan Yamamoto and Utazumi Kunishige. It's available to listen to on YouTube.


	6. Sweet Sorrow

Okay, so here's the rewritten chapter six, however there's gunna be a little gap with the rest of the chapters until I can rewrite the rest.  
You may notice that this chapter is longer and it is, by about three thousand words. xD I went a little overboard!

* * *

After Kiyomiko's meeting with the boy in the moonlit forest, she had warned her team not to stray too deep into the forest, using every method of persuasion she had at her disposal while remaining as cryptic as possible. It had been relatively easy, all she'd had to do was bribe Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura while Kakashi had been a little more difficult to approach and in the end she'd been forced to mention his current state of ill health, using that to her advantage. It helped a little to know that one of Kakashi's favorite foods was eggplant, which she had plenty of. She'd even prepared it the right way, much to her own amusement when she'd drawn the Jonin out of the guest bedroom with the scent of it alone.

The next day, however, found Kiyomiko in the forest once again. Kakashi had gathered up the team while Tazuna and his family stayed behind at the house and Kiyomiko made sure that they were still on the proper side of the island when they finally stopped in a clearing. They were surrounded by tall and ancient cedar trees, towering high overhead and only a small amount of sunlight managed to penetrate the canopy above them, to which Kiyomiko was grateful. She hadn't slept well the night before, choosing to attempt sleep in the boughs of a tree outside Tazuna's house, rather than risk waking the whole house if she woke from another one of her nightmares and she'd been grateful for that decision as well, especially when she fell out of the tree when she woke well before dawn.

"Kakashi-sensei.. What are we doing all the way out here?" Naruto whined, looking sleepy as he rubbed his eyes. It was still early morning and the team had only just barely finished breakfast before Kakashi announced their little field trip.

"We're going to start a new training exercise. You're going to be climbing some trees." Kakashi began with an amused tone, turning and pointing to the tallest tree with one of his borrowed crutches for effect. "..Without using your hands."

"Eh?! Is that even possible?!" Sakura gaped, her eyes wide as she turned to look at the _very_ tall tree, Naruto and Sasuke wearing similar expressions while Kakashi just chuckled.

"Just concentrate your chakra into the soles of your feet and then attach yourself to a tree." Kakashi explained, hobbling over towards the nearest tree before Kiyomiko heaved a great sigh and walked over towards him, stopping him with a stern glare. "Eh..? Kiyomiko?"

"You may be a Jonin but you're still recovering, _baka_. Don't waste your chakra." Kiyomiko said in a drawling tone as she folded her arms across her chest, ignoring the surprised glances of her teammates as she turned to look at them. "I know what training he's talking about, so just watch me."

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and faced the tree, her motions slower so her teammates could watch closely as she channelled a small amount of chakra into her feet and placed one of her geta against the tree trunk, followed by the other. Kakashi gave a slightly amused chuckle when seeing the faces of the other three Genin while Kiyomiko walked up the side of the tree, her hands clasped primly behind her back until she was about twenty feet off the ground before she turned, looking down at her teammates. They were all staring at her, wide eyed and shocked as she walked in a circle around the outside of the tree and came to a stop on a comfortable-looking branch, plopping down onto it cross-legged with a look of complete and utter boredom.

"Alright, since you all know how it works now, here's what I want you to do." Kakashi's voice came from the base of the tree and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura turned to look at the Jonin, occasionally glancing up at Kiyomiko as if they still couldn't believe what they'd seen while he explained. "Each of you pick a different tree and use your kunai to mark your progress, then try to beat your own record. Since you're all just starting out, you may want to start at a bit of a run."

"And since I already showed you that I can do this, _Baka-sensei_ will be going back to Tazuna's house to relax and recover for the rest of the day." Kiyomiko called down to the rest of her team, her arms folded across her chest as she glared pointedly at Kakashi, her tone implying that he didn't have a choice. Kakashi sweatdropped, giving an awkward chuckle before he nodded in agreement. "I'll take over watching over your training for now."

"Alright! Let's do this! I can't let Kiyo-chan beat me!" Naruto cheered, looking determined as he grinned and pulled out a kunai, turning to face one of the nearest trees as if it were an opponent and Kiyomiko smirked, watching the boy channel a small amount of chakra into his feet before charging at the tree. He made it about two steps before gravity forced him back to the ground. He hadn't used enough chakra.

"Hn. Dumbass." Sasuke smirked as he chose a tree, pulled out a kunai and channelled chakra into his feet, approaching the tree at a light jog while Naruto got up, grumbling as he rubbed his behind. Sasuke, however, turned out to be no better when he made it a step farther than Naruto before the tree actually repelled him because he had used too much chakra.

"Hey, this is actually pretty fun!" Sakura smiled, Naruto and Sasuke whipping around to see that the pink-haired girl had managed to reach the first branch of the tree she had chosen with total ease, standing at the same height as Kiyomiko.

"Well, it looks like Sakura has the best chakra control." Kakashi said in a not-so-subtle attempt at motivating Naruto and Sasuke. "Seems like _she's_ the closest to becoming Hokage one day.. And maybe the Uchiha clan isn't as wonderful as I thought.."

"Stop it, Sensei!" Sakura shouted down at Kakashi and Kiyomiko winced before she saw the girl's foot slip from the branch. Naruto and Sasuke started to panic before Kiyomiko suddenly appeared, hooked onto the branch with her knees while holding onto Sakura's wrists, catching the girl before she fell. "Kiyo-chan!"

"_Aho_." Kiyomiko sighed, looking down at Sakura with one pale silver eye open as she channelled a small amount of chakra into her feet and clung to the underside of the branch, her geta clicking against the bark as she brought Sakura to the trunk of the tree. "Get a good grip this time and don't be so easily distracted."

"_Hai_, Kiyomiko-sensei." Sakura quipped with a soft sigh as she stuck herself to the tree trunk again, walking down the wood with Kiyomiko right behind her. Kakashi sweatdropped again while he, Naruto and Sasuke watched the whole encounter.

"Hey, that doesn't sound half-bad." Kiyomiko flashed a fox-like smirk as the two girls reached the ground, sweeping a hand through her long black hair. After everyone was on the ground again, Kakashi hobbled off in the direction of Tazuna's house, probably due to Kiyomiko's rather frightening glare, while Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura kept climbing trees for a while. The whole time, Kiyomiko kept a careful eye on them while she leaned against a tree trunk with a disinterested expression, her arms folded across her chest.

After about an hour, Kiyomiko lit a small campfire in the center of the clearing and sat down beside it, still keeping an eye on her teammates just in case they fell. After two more hours, Sakura had gotten it down perfectly and she joined Kiyomiko in the center of the clearing, watching Naruto and Sasuke duke it out as they climbed their respective trees, higher and higher, though they were still making mind-numbingly slow progress. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko opened up her knapsack and produced four small bags of dried fruits, peaches, apricots, apples and strawberries, passing a random bag to Sakura as she opened the bag of dried peach slices. As soon as Naruto and Sasuke heard the bag open, they were on the ground again and Kiyomiko flashed them both a knowing smirk as she handed them the remaining two bags.

When lunch had been concluded, Naruto pulled Sakura aside and the two of them talked for a while, Kiyomiko smirking slightly as she heard what was said. Sasuke blinked, looking back and forth between Kiyomiko and Naruto with a quirked brow before the two boys went back to their training. This time, Naruto managed to make it up the tree a little farther than Sasuke, much to the annoyance of the Uchiha when he realized that Naruto had asked Sakura for advice, his annoyance quickly turning to amusement when Naruto promptly fell on his head again. Soon after, Sakura pulled out a book and started reading while Kiyomiko scaled the tree between two that Naruto and Sasuke were using to practice, sitting down on one of the branches and leaning back against the tree trunk behind her. Time passed slowly as Kiyomiko listened to the steady flow of footsteps, then curses, then a blade being drawn over wood before a rustle in the grass below, sometimes followed by a yelp of pain or a growl of determination. Time and time again, the same cycle of sounds before Sasuke's scent came closer to her and she could feet weight added to the branch beneath her as if someone had landed on it. _So, Sasuke has finally abandoned his pride_.

"Oie, Kiyomiko." Sasuke's voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko opened one eye to look up at the boy as he stood in front of her, avoiding her gaze as he scowled slightly, his arms folded across his chest. He _really_ didn't look happy. "Give me some advice."

"Well, when you put it so nicely... No. You'll have to do better than that." Kiyomiko closed her eye again, almost smirking when she heard Sasuke's infuriated spluttering. She was always happy to knock Mr. High-and-Mighty down a few pegs. After a moment, she heard a soft growl of frustration before she felt weight shift as Sasuke flopped down on the branch, followed by a heavy sigh of irritation and defeat. "Given up already? That's no fun."

"Aren't _you_ the one that's supposed to be teaching us?" Sasuke countered as Kiyomiko opened her eyes to see the boy sitting cross-legged in front of her, shooting her a reproachful scowl. _Well, he did have a point there._ Kiyomiko's amused expression relaxed into one of indifference as she sighed. Sasuke got the picture, biting back another growl before his eyebrow twitched. "_Please_, could you give me some advice?"

"Well, I suppose that's the best I'll get for now, so alright." Kiyomiko smirked at the annoyed look on Sasuke's face as she sat forward slightly, Sasuke leaning closer as well, as if he were listening to some kind of top secret information, though he was probably just trying to freak out Naruto. "Alright, so the way I learned it is that I pretended my chakra was glue. Pay close attention to your chakra output and change the "glue's consistancy" accordingly. Balance is key. If you use too much chakra, you'll get pushed away from the tree but if you use too little chakra, you'll fall. Instead of over-calculating and trying to cling to the tree, try resting on it, trust your chakra to do the work."

"Okay, I guess I can kind of understand that." Sasuke began, an eyebrow quirked as he looked at Kiyomiko as if she'd just said the strangest thing in the world. Kiyomiko could see Sakura at the base of the tree, glaring up at her from below while Naruto was trying to eavesdrop. This was getting to be really troublesome. "But.. You pretended that your chakra was glue?.."

"Hey, knock it all you waht, but it worked for me when I was five." Kiyomiko sighed as she leaned back against the tree trunk behind her, rolling her eyes before she paused, seeing Sasuke's suddenly stunned expression. And then the realization dawned on her. "Oh crap..."

"Are you serious?!" Sasuke gaped, his voice loud enough that Naruto and Sakura could hear it clearly and they looked up with puzzled expressions. "You learned how to climb trees like this when you were five?!"

"Yes, yes! Now keep it down!" Kiyomiko hissed, suddenly clapping a hand over Sasuke's mouth with an irritated growl, feeling the boy tense in her grasp before he relaxed somewhat. "Look, there's a lot about me that you guys don't know. I'll probably never talk about my life before coming to Konoha and with any luck, I won't have to! All of it just.. brings back bad memories.."

In that moment, Sasuke seemed to still and his eyes widened slightly as he looked at her, a gentle breeze causing a mixture of sunlight and shadow to dance across her youthful face, her delicate features pinched into a faint scowl. Kiyomiko could hear Sakura's shocked spluttering from below and she blinked, noticing a faint tinge of pink on Sasuke's cheeks before he reached up and took her wrist gently, pulling her hand away from his face before he turned to the side, still casting her a sideways glance. It was strange, the way he was looking at her, as if he were seeing her for the first time even though they'd been together almost every day since being assigned to Team Seven and Kiyomiko sighed, her expression relaxing into one of boredom as she leaned back against the tree trunk behind her once again, folding her arms across her chest.

"You don't have to talk about your past if you don't want to.." Sasuke began, the usual arrogance in his tone mysteriously gone, replaced with small traces of a subdued concern. "But.. if you ever do want to talk.. I'd listen."

"Eh..?" Kiyomiko blinked, her pale silver eyes widening slightly as Sasuke looked back at her, rested on one knee as he crouched on the branch less than an arm's length away. She hardly looked like the cool, calm, arrogant tough-girl that she portrayed herself to be, instead she looked.. almost fragile in that moment and he seemed surprised by that. After a moment, Kiyomiko chuckled, no sarcasm or bite to her tone as she swept a hand through her long black hair. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Hn.." Sasuke spared her a glance and an awkward nod before he jumped off of the branch and went back to his training, soon joined by Naruto and Sakura, both wanting to know what was said, to which he replied with his usual cool arrogance. This time, he seemed to follow Kiyomiko's advice and soon, he was able to make it up the tree an extra four feet before he let himself drop back to the ground, smirking at Naruto as he passed the boy on the way down.

-(o.o)-

"_Slumber, God of the Heavens.  
Slumber, God of the Earth.  
For 'tis bedtime for the serpent of the slumbering villages too._

_Slumber, God of the Heavens.  
Slumber, God of the Seas.  
For 'tis bedtime for the serpent of the slumbering villages too._

_The Great Serpent is dreadful.  
Swallowing the sea is dreadful.  
Slip off to sleep,  
Slip off to the God of the Heavens._

_The Great Serpent is dreadful.  
Swallowing the mountains is dreadful.  
Slip off to sleep,  
Slip off to the God of the Heavens._

_Slumber, God of the Heavens.  
Slumber, God of the Earth.  
For 'tis bedtime for the serpent of the slumbering villages too._

_Slumber, God of the Heavens.  
Slumber, God of the Seas.  
For 'tis bedtime for the serpent of the slumbering villages too._"

Kiyomiko sang quietly in the dark, sitting on a low treebranch as she watched the full moon rise through the foliage of the forest, ribbons of pure white light filtering through the leaves as she leaned back against the tree trunk with a soft expression, her pale silver eyes reflecting the light of the moon as she sang. Everyone had gone back to Tazuna's house for dinner when the sun set and Kiyomiko had stayed behind, just to be alone for a little while, push aside the many unpleasant memories that had been drudged up over the last few days and allow herself to relax for a while, maybe get some sleep before she was forced awake from nightmares again. Her nightmares.. They weren't getting any better. In fact, they were getting worse over time. At least when she spent all of her time in the wild, she didn't run the risk of bothering anyone when she cried herself to sleep or woke up screaming.

"Well, that's a mildly disturbing song.." Kakashi's voice came from below her and Kiyomiko turned to look down with one pale silver eye, seeing a very exhausted-looking Kakashi standing at the base of the tree she was sitting in, looking up at her with an eyebrow quirked. "I've been looking for you since sundown. The others came back for dinner but they said they hadn't seen you since then and they were worried."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Kiyomiko sighed softly, turning and slipping backwards so that she hung from the branch by her knees, her face upside-down and eye-level with Kakashi. "Besides, you shouldn't be moving around so much. You're making it too easy for me to keep calling you "baka-sensei", like Iruka."

"Oh, I don't doubt that you can take care of yourself." Kakashi mused, his tone light-hearted and almost cheerful as he looked at her. "I have to say, even at such a young age, your abilities are far beyond what I would have expected. You must have been training for a very long time."

"You're using praise and flattery to probe for information." Kiyomiko stated plainly as she let herself slip from the branch, landing on her feet in a catlike crouch before she stood upright in one smooth motion, folding her arms across her chest as she turned to face the rising moon, her pale silver eyes almost perfectly reflecting it's image like mirrors. "Textbook tactic to gain information from children."

"And you're almost too smart for your own good!" Kakashi chuckled slightly, though his posture changed slightly as if he were uncomfortable with his intentions being found out so quickly. She could feel his gaze on her back, that steady and cautious stare as if he were trying to look into her, see through her many masks and see her true self.. All that would accomplish is reveal the monster within her, the one she had taken great pains to hide, and she didn't mean Yuki.

"Quit beating around the bush and just ask already." Kiyomiko drawled, casting a glance over her shoulder at the Jonin behind her, her pale pupil-less silver eyes almost glowing in the shadows as if they were lit from the moon behind her.

"How long have you been fighting, Kiyomiko?" Kakashi's tone changed, softened to one of gentle understanding and she flinched reflexively when he took a step towards her, his expression something like the way an older brother would talk to his kid sister.

"Hn." Kiyomiko recovered by putting on a mask of sarcasm and arrogance, a slight smirk appearing on her youthful features as her posture straightened, turning to look back up at the rising moon as Kakashi came to a stop beside her. "I've been fighting since I was old enough to steal my first kunai. When I was younger, there was a sort of coup d'etat against my father and a man came into my room to kill me. I killed him first and stole the kunai that he'd been planning on using to slit my throat. The second man I killed was when I went to go and check on my father, to see if he was safe, and I heard another man begging for forgiveness. He'd sent the first man to kill me. I killed him by calling one of my father's summons, this tiny little white snake barely strong enough to slither down my arm but it's poison was just as deadly as an adult's. My father saw the whole thing and I don't remember ever seeing him so happy before that. He decided right then and there to start training me.. I was three years old at the time."

"T-three years old..?" Kakashi asked quietly, kneeling down beside Kiyomiko so that his eyes were level with hers, resting a hand on her shoulder to turn her and she followed his direction, looking at him with a totally sincere expression. "Kiyomiko.."

"Yes, I killed two men when I was three." Kiyomiko answered plainly, her silvery gaze unwavering as she saw a flicker of some grim expression in Kakashi's eyes. "After that, my father started to personally train me, teaching me everything he knew. I suppose a fair example would be to say that I entered the Academy at three years old, however my father was much more strict and nowhere near as.. _understanding_.. as Iruka. Regardless, I loved every minute of it. I was working hard to make my father proud. Back then.. I still loved him with all my heart."

"What changed..?" Kakashi asked and Kiyomiko sighed, her pale silver eyes visibly darkening at the mere memory as she turned to look back up at the full moon, knowing that Kakashi was studying her every movement. Her expression was distant and detached, as cold and far-away as the moon she was looking at as her long black hair swayed in the chilly breeze blowing off of the ocean around them yet she didn't shiver at all, she didn't even have goosebumps.

"When I was seven years old.. I guess you could say that my father betrayed me." Kiyomiko answered finally, one hand reaching up to pull away the forehead protector around her neck, her bandages going loose and slipping away in the process. She could hear Kakashi's breath hitch in his throat as his gaze landed on the two puncture scars on the side of her neck, a single inch away from her jugular vein, and she didn't pull away or go rigid when she felt his touch brush over her scars. By then, she had turned to ice and she no longer cared. "Surely, the Hokage mentioned something to that effect when he asked you to keep an eye on me.. Though I suppose the scars themselves are much more telling than conjecture."

"You knew..?" Kakashi asked, his hand drawing away from her neck as he knelt beside her and Kiyomiko managed a slight smile as she wrapped the bandages around her neck once again, tying her forehead protector in place over the layer of linen, lowering her hands to hang slack at her sides as she turned to look at Kakashi. In that moment, she didn't look human, more like a replica of herself, some unfeeling doll or statue, a wall of pure ice surrounding her. "You knew this whole time?"

"Of course, I knew. Iruka said it himself the day he assigned me to Team Seven. A "direct assignment from the Hokage", he called it. I'm surprised that he didn't realize what was really going on." Kiyomiko chuckled slightly, but it was a hollow sound, devoid of any form of mirth. "Besides, I already know that the Hokage doesn't trust me, despite all of his kind words, and I don't fault him for that. It's only natural to be wary of strangers, especially when they look so.. _familiar_. I know that this whole trip is a test to see if I can be trusted."

"Kiyomiko.."

"I won't confirm or deny anything right now, Kakashi." Kiyomiko sighed softly, an expression of disinterest and exhaustion touching her youthful features as she stood before him. "All I'm going to say on the matter is that I will do what is expected of me as a _Genin for Konoha_, nothing more and nothing less. I don't want to speak about my past, not tonight. There's nothing I can do to change what happened. I didn't go to Konoha with any sinister motives, I was seeking sanctuary. As I told the Hokage the day before I graduated, my father hates Konoha so it's the last place he would think to look for me. I needed to disappear because I've grown tired of fighting off my father's mercenaries."

"There will come a time when you have to talk to someone about what happened.." Kakashi frowned slightly, she could tell by his tone, and he stood up slowly before he rested a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her as she returned his gaze. "Sooner would be better, don't you think?"

"That's a matter of opinion." Kiyomiko answered quietly as she turned, her pace matching with Kakashi's as they walked back towards Tazuna's house. The shadows seemed darker than normal as the full moon rose higher and higher in the sky, time passing almost agonizingly slowly as the two walked in silence for most of the way.

"Why do you sneak away at night, when you think everyone is asleep?" Kakashi asked finally, breaking the silence as he looked down at her from the corner of his vision. "Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you sleep.."

"I don't sleep around people. I avoid it whenever possible." Kiyomiko answered quietly, Tazuna's house coming into view through the trees. Ahead of her, she could see Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sitting just outside, in front of the house with the front door open, chatting and laughing as if they didn't have a care in the world. "I don't want to bother anyone."

Kakashi paused for a moment but Kiyomiko didn't say anything more on the subject, ending the conversation as she put on a mask of perfect calm just before she walked out of the treeline and into the sights of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi following behind her. Kiyomiko talked with her friends for a while, though they did most of the talking, and when it was time for bed, Kiyomiko and Sakura went to the guest room that they shared. Again, like every night for the last week, Kiyomiko waited until everyone was asleep before she rose from her futon and crept over to the open window, slipping out onto the roof, her bare feet silent on the clay tiles as she walked to the edge and let herself drop into the grass below.

Everything was perfectly silent as Kakashi watched from the shadows, cautiously following after Kiyomiko as she walked into the forest once again, her eyes lowered to the ground in front of her as she wove between trees without even looking. She looked exhausted and worn down, her foosteps gradually becoming audible with every step she took until she stumbled, catching herself on a tree so she didn't fall on her face. Her exhaustion had caught up with her and it took her much longer than normal as she climbed up into a tree and settled herself on the highest possible branch, barely looking strong enough to support her weight as she rested back against the trunk of the tree and drew her knees up to her chest as if to make herself as small as possible. Kakashi could hear her, softly humming the same song she'd been singing earlier, the disturbing lullaby, before her voice wavered slightly and she sniffled. She was crying, yet Kakashi stayed still.

As the moon rose to the highest point in the star-speckled sky, a gentle breeze rolled through the forest, thick with the scent of impending rain as dark clouds formed on the horizon to the south and the soft humming slowly faded into silence as Kiyomiko finally fell asleep. The forest was startlingly silent, something Kakashi had never experienced before as even the nocturnal animals seemed to hush around Kiyomiko's sleeping form. Only a matter of minutes passed before soft whimpers and yelps reached his ears and he looked to see that Kiyomiko was flinching in her sleep and he understood. She was plagued by nightmares.

However, he did not understand just how terrible they were until he saw her thrash in her sleep, her hands brought up as if she were trying to protect herself from some unseen attacker, her sharp yelp echoing through the forest before she suddenly jerked awake after only three hours of sleep. In a flurry of motion that Kakashi would have otherwised missed, Kiyomiko was instantly awake, her pale silver eyes wide and fearful as she clutched a kunai in a white-knuckle grip. Once again, everything went silent as Kiyomiko sighed and relaxed back on the branch, turning towards the eastern horizon as she stared, tears drying on her cheeks as her trembling slowly subsided while she waited for the sun to rise.

-(o.o)-

Just before sunrise, Kiyomiko snuck back into Tazuna's house and quickly dove under the covers of the small futon that she'd been assigned in the guest bedroom that she and Sakura shared mere moments before the pink-haired girl awoke. It had been close but Kiyomiko managed to feign sleep before Sakura even knew that anything was amiss. It had been exactly one week since she had made the deal with that boy in the forest and it had been a peaceful enough week. As much as she had tried to baby Kakashi, he had fully recovered from his battle with Zabuza ten days ago and she had a feeling that Zabuza had recovered as well. Something was in the air, some tension, some chill that travelled down her spine.. It was the apprehension of battle. The truce had expired.

With a sigh, Kiyomiko pushed the blanket off of her as she sat up, sweeping a hand through her long black hair as she listened to the sounds of the house, her eyes still closed. Everything was quiet now but a few minutes ago, she heard Kakashi talking with Tsunami and Inari, telling them to let Kiyomiko sleep while everyone else went to the bridge with Tazuna. A few minutes passed before even Naruto had run off, chasing after the rest of the team and leaving her behind in the quiet house while Tsunami and Inari sat in the kitchen. She could hear the woman making tea while she talked with Inari about Naruto. It was.. strange. Pushing the thought from her mind, Kiyomiko stood up from the futon and folded it up, sticking it back in the closet for the day before she gathered up her belongings, leaving nothing of herself behind when she left the room and walked down the rickety wooden stairs to the first level of the house. As she had already surmised, Tsunami and Inari were sitting at the kitchen table when she appeared in the hallway.

"Where is everyone..?" Kiyomiko asked with a sleepy tone, threading her fingers through her long black hair in an attempt to smooth it. It was all part of the act, after all. If she looked like she'd just woken up, they would think she had actually slept, making her look vastly more normal than she really was by extension. But she was uncomfortable with the idea of being left alone in this "happy family" atmosphere, even though these people had good hearts. She didn't belong.

"Everyone went down to the bridge about half an hour ago." Tsunami smiled, beckoning for Kiyomiko to sit while she poured a cup of tea and Kiyomiko did as she was bid, sitting down at the table with a slightly awkward smile as the woman continued. "Well, Naruto-kun had a little trouble waking up but he left a few minutes ago. Your sensei said that you should relax today since you've been such a big help to us already."

"Hn.. I think I'll do that.. After I take care of the dishes and start working on the laundry. We may be here to protect your father but we're not freeloaders." Kiyomiko smiled slightly as she took a sip of the bitter tea, setting the worn clay cup down on the table in front of her, listening to the running conversation between Tsunami and Inari with only a small amount of interest. Everything was so peaceful that it was unnerving and Kiyomiko frowned slightly as she turned to look at the door, feeling that thrill of anticipating returning. And then the scent of blood reached her nose.

"Eh?! Kiyomiko-chan, what's wrong?" Tsunami gasped when Kiyomiko suddenly stood, almost knocking her chair over as she tensed, her pale silver eyes locked on the front door. "You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

"Tsunami, Inari, I'm sorry but you'll have to go upstairs and hide now." Kiyomiko said quietly, her tone hard and cold as she reached into her sash and drew her fan, all traces of feigned sleep gone behind a mask of readiness. "You have two minutes to find a safe place to hide before two men walk through that door and all hell breaks loose."

Kiyomiko didn't need to look back to see the expression of panic on Tsunami's face as she quickly stood and gathered up Inari, the two of them running upstairs before a door slammed shut. Kiyomiko waited, hearing a faint shuffling from above before a closet door slid open and then closed again. Good, they had hid in the hallway linen closet, behind the stack of spare futons. They wouldn't be able to hear anything from in there. Silently, Kiyomiko lowered into a catlike crouch as she slipped beneath the heavy wooden table, moving into a position where she could see the front door but she couldn't be seen by anyone over four feet tall. From there, she waited, her breathing and heartbeat softened as she strained her ears, listening.

She could hear a pair of approaching footsteps, heavy and relaxed. They weren't ninjas. The warm, coppery scent of fresh blood reached her nose. They had just killed something but judging by the scent, it wasn't human. Hunters? No, not with that predatory pace. Kiyomiko sat unmoving, staring at the from door as the footsteps stopped and the doorknob jiggled slightly, as if someone were testing to see if it were locked before it slowly turned, clicking softly as the latch was withdrawn and the door eased open. Two men slowly walked into the house and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed on their faces, memorizing them. They weren't ninjas. They were thugs running around pretending to be samurai.

The first man to enter paused for a moment, katana drawn as he looked around the room with dark eyes gleaming dangerously. He had such a ridiculous hairstyle that Kiyomiko almost laughed, frizzy brown hair pulled up into some strange form of tri-pigtail style with a poofy ball of hair on the top of his head. However, his eyes told her that he was a killer and he enjoyed it. He had a heavy-set brow, he was muscular and tattoos covered most of his bare arms and back, a black eyepatch covering his right eye. His katana even had blood on it still. _Fool. That's no way to treat such a pretty blade_. The second man was considerably less amusing-looking. He was shorter, leaner, wearing a long grey hoodie with a black knitcap on his head, shoulder-length grey hair hanging loose even though he was a rather young man, purple streaks painted to the level of his cheekbones. Both of them were looking around the house with matching expressions of predators on the hunt, looking for something or someone to kill. Kiyomiko wouldn't let them find anything.

Their first mistake was leaving the front door open and their second was leaving the door unattended while they split up to search the first floor of the house and Kiyomiko smirked as she silently crept out from beneath the table, keeping low to the ground as she slipped through the open front door. _Step one, lure the bad guys away from the house and into the forest_. Kiyomiko pressed back against the outer wall beside the front door as she wet her lips and drew in a breath just seconds before a shrill whistle split the peaceful mid-morning quiet. She heard a pair of startled curses from the two men before they whipped around to look towards the door that they had left open, seeing Kiyomiko standing just outside with a cocky fox-like grin, giving them both the finger as she walked backwards towards the forest. Immediately, they stood stock still, time seemed to slow as she watched the two men slowly working things out in their mind. She was small, young, fragile-looking, and a girl. She couldn't put up much of a fight.. Right? The moment passed as feral grins appeared on the faces of the two men before they exchanged a nod and started to chase after Kiyomiko, leaving the house behind.

_Step one, complete_. Kiyomiko almost laughed when the two men ran out of the house, charging after her at full speed as she nimbly jumped and hopped away, backwards-dodging them as she led them into the forest, the two men attempting to swipe at her with their swords to no avail. Kiyomiko used her small size to her advantage by increasing her speed, her small hands lightly jabbing and punching at the sensitive pressure points of the two men while she jumped back to dodge their attacks, the two men alternating between defense and offense in almost perfect timing. But they were stupid to have followed her into the forest so readily and Kiyomiko laughed lightly when she turned and ran into a clearing, at least a half a mile away from Tazuna's house, where Tsunami and Inari wouldn't see her, wouldn't hear the screams, wouldn't be tainted by her darkness when she killed. The two men followed, almost blinded by the bright sunlight as they ran into the clearing after Kiyomiko only to find that she stood in the center, perfectly still and calm, holding her fan in one hand and a jagged kunai in the other, forearms crossed over her chest.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, boys." Kiyomiko's voice was soft and sweet, chilling as the temperature around her slowly but steadily dropped, frost beginning to form at her feet despite the warmth of the mid-morning sun shining down on the world, the two men hesitating for a second as they looked at her, watching as she lowered into an unfamiliar stance. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

The two men charged, stupidly, once again and Kiyomiko sighed inwardly, bored by their tactics as they attempted to end her life in one brash move. _Idiots_. As fluidly as if she were dancing, Kiyomiko parried the first blade with her jagged kunai, spinning on the point of her geta as she whirled the sharpened spines of her battle fan in a frighteningly smooth and accurate motion, slashing the throat of the grey-haired man before she twisted her wrist and swept the blades in a horizontal line down his torso, slicing open his jacket.. and his torso.. in the process. The brown-haired guy froze for a second, his dark eyes wide as he saw his partner killed right in front of him by a little girl, before he flew into a predictable rage and Kiyomiko spun away, her feet silent in the grass as she dodged the wild and wayward attacks with ease. A split second was all she needed before she blocked one attack with her kunai and quickly dispatched the second man with just as little effort as the first. The man's body, bearing identical wounds, crumpled to the ground in a heap as his lifeblood drained from his throat and torso.

Her heartbeat was steady, her breathing calm even as she slowed her twirl to a stop between the corpses of the two men, frost slowly creeping across the grass to cover their cooling bodies as Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes lowered to the blood-covered grass. Taking a deep, steadying breath, the realization of what she had just done began to slowly sink in and she looked down at her hands to see the blood coating her fingers, a few speckles of red staining her white silk yukata and Kiyomiko groaned softly. _Dammit. That's not washing out._ Well, judging by the fact that mercenaries had shown up at Tazuna's house, it was safe to assume that the truce had ended and Gatoh had gotten impatient, going after Tazuna's family to get to Tazuna himself. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko walked a few paces away before she turned back to face the bodies, drawing in a deep breath as she pooled her chakra into her lungs, feeling a heat building within her.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!_"

A torrent of flames curled from Kiyomiko's breath, forming a massive, perfectly circular orb in front of her before she released it, unleashing it upon the corpses of the two mercenaries, reducing the bodies and any evidence of her presence to nothing but ash, flesh, bone and blood searing away as even the ground around the bodies cratered into white-hot ash. When she was certain that there was nothing left, Kiyomiko dispelled the jutsu and exhaled slowly, a thin tendril of steam rising from her sigh before she swept a hand through her long black hair, brushing it out of her eyes. If she'd had more time, she could have disposed of the bodies properly, without being forced to use.. _that_ jutsu.. But she had no choice and now she needed to leave the area before the smoke drew any attention. After a few seconds of stillness, Kiyomiko turned on her heel and walked back towards the treeline, taking a single step before her body disappeared in a whirlwind of ice and snow, her body reappearing in front of Tazuna's house a few seconds later.

When Kiyomiko walked into the house, she paused, an eyebrow quirked when Tsunami and Inari froze, their eyes wide when they saw her. They had gathered up whatever household utensils that they could find to use as weapons and Inari was currently wearing a pot on his head like a helmet, a little crossbow strapped to his back. Kiyomiko couldn't help herself. She laughed. She could only imagine how she looked to their eyes. They were normal people, good people who couldn't hurt a fly and here she was, her hair a mess, dirt and droplets of blood staining her yukata, hands covered in blood, her fair skin looking ghastly pale in the bright sunlight and she was _laughing_.

"O-oh, I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't laugh but Inari looks so adorable!" Kiyomiko moved to hide her laughter behind one hand before she paused, glancing down at her bloody hand with a slight cringe, probably the most emotion she'd shown Tsunami and Inari in the ten days she'd stayed with them. With a few remaining chuckles, Kiyomiko picked up a nearby rag and started to swipe at the drying blood on her hands. "Well, if you've decided to fight back against Gatoh, I'd suggest getting as many people to join you as possible. Strength in numbers and all that."

"Kiyomiko-chan.. Honey, is that blood..?" Tsunami asked, her voice wavering slightly as she pointed to Kiyomiko's hands and yukata and Kiyomiko paused for a moment. Of course a normal, kind, caring mother like Tsunami would be at least _startled_ by the sight of blood, especially so much of it. "Are you hurt..?"

"No, no. I'm fine. This blood isn't mine." Kiyomiko answered with a smile, trying to sound reassuring as she set down the bloodied rag on the tabletop. "Those two men have been taken care of. They won't be coming back, so you're safe now. I have to get to the bridge and meet up with the rest of my team. Gatoh sent mercenaries here, so I can only assume that the rest of my team is fighting as well and I have a mission to complete. I won't tell you not to fight back but.. Just remember that you'd be safer here."

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and casually walked out of the house and back into the forest, not waiting around to hear their replies. As soon as she was inside the treeline, Kiyomiko jumped up into the high branches of the trees and ran through them, jumping from treebranch to treebranch as she made her way towards the bridge, her pace only increasing despite the twigs and leaves slapping at her skin in an attempt to slow her. As she ran, thin coils of a milky white mist began to form through the forest and grew gradually thicker with each step she took. The area around the bridge was completely white, surrounded by thick fog and Kiyomiko bit back a growl as she dropped from the trees and raced along the dirt path into the fogbank. Electricity arced through the mist like flashes of lightning and the scent of blood was everywhere when Kiyomiko finally came to a stop at the beginning of the bridge, a hard expression on her normally impish face.

Her pale silver eyes landed on the stilled figure of Sasuke, laying in a heap on the concrete, senbon needles sticking out of him at odd angles as shards of ice and frigid water surrounded him. He was still alive and Kiyomiko knelt down beside him, ignoring the blood and water seeping into her yukata as she started to remove the senbon with careful movements, tossing them aside as the battle raged around her. She had taken life today and now she would make up for that by saving life as well. Without any thought to her surroundings, Kiyomiko held her hands over Sasuke's torso and closed her eyes, a flickering green chakra leaking from her fingertips and palms before it soaked into Sasuke's body but it was still too slow, not enough. The senbon needles had missed his vital organs but he was still losing a lot of blood because of the water that covered him, she needed to do something drastic. Gritting her teeth, Kiyomiko poured her chakra into the healing jutsu and the green glow gradually grew in size to encompass the boy's entire body in a cascade of energy.

After a few minutes of draining her chakra into the healing jutsu, Sasuke's wounds had repaired themselves, slowly healing on their own as the boy regained his color, his breathing evening out to a steady rhythm as if he were asleep. Kiyomiko's brow furrowed slightly as she slowed the flow of chakra gradually, allowing it to taper off before she swayed, dropping forward to rest on all fours while she caught her breath. The world was spinning around her and she frowned. She didn't have time for this. She could hear metal hitting against metal, electricity crackling through the fog, shouts of pain coming from further down the bridge and she shook her head to clear her thoughts. She needed to pull herself together. She was stronger than this. Carefully, Kiyomiko bent down and hauled Sasuke's unconscious body up, laying him across her back as she got to her feet, her legs weak at first before she steeled herself. She couldn't see anyone through the fog, but she followed the only scent that registered in her mind at that moment.

"Sakura.." Kiyomiko frowned slightly at the sound of her own voice through the fog, sounding hoarse and rough, giving away her position as she approached two figures through the fog. She knew that it wasn't Zabuza because he was probably fighting Kakashi further down the bridge where the electricity kept flashing through the thick fog. No, this scent was Sakura and Tazuna. "Sakura!"

"Kiyo-chan?! Kiyo-chan, where are you?!" Sakura's voice answered and Kiyomiko breathed a soft sigh of relief when the two figures in the fog began to move towards her together. She was able to make out the features of Sakura as she moved closer, her green eyes going wide when she saw Kiyomiko carrying Sasuke on her back, blood splattered all over Kiyomiko's white silk yukata. "Sasuke-kun!"

"Don't worry.. He's fine." Kiyomiko managed a weak groan as she lowered to one knee when Sakura and Tazuna reached her, the older man helping to remove Sasuke from Kiyomiko's back and lay him down on the bridge before Sakura knelt down beside him. "He just got knocked out, that's all. Tazuna, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but what about you?!" Tazuna sounded worried as he knelt down in front of Kiyomiko, looking her over with a concerned expression, causing Sakura to look up and gasp. "You're covered in blood!"

"I'm alright. A pair of Gatoh's mercenaries showed up for tea but don't worry, they won't be bothering your family anymore. Tsunami and Inari are perfectly fine." Kiyomiko sighed, sweeping a hand through her hair as she got to her feet, folding her arms across her chest in an attempt to look less exhausted than she really was. The truth, though, was that she had used up most of her chakra already, killing those two mercenaries in the forest, disposing of their bodies and then healing Sasuke's wounds. She was already nearing her limit, though she'd never show it, least of all to her teammates. "Sakura, what's the situation?"

"We got to the bridge about an hour ago but Zabuza and that masked boy were already here waiting for us.." Sakura explained, looking up at Kiyomiko with worry in her voice as she knelt beside Sasuke. "Kakashi is probably fighting Zabuza right now.. Sasuke and Naruto were supposed to be fighting that masked boy but.. I don't know what happened. If you haven't seen him.."

"He's fine. He's just up ahead and he's not even wounded." Kiyomiko answered with a soft sigh, turning her silvery gaze towards the fog where Naruto's scent was coming from. She knew what had happened while she'd been running to the bridge.. The Kyubi's chakra had leaked out of Naruto, probably as a result of seeing Sasuke go down.. "Sakura, stay here with Tazuna and Sasuke. I'm going to see if I can do something to get rid of this fog, take away Zabuza's cover."

Sakura nodded slightly and Kiyomiko turned, disappearing through the fog as she walked down to the edge of the bridge, her youthful features pinched into a hard scowl of disdain when the realization struck her. She had little to no chakra left. If she used any more, she'd likely collapse just like Kakashi had. Fighting through a wave of dizziness, Kiyomiko reached the edge of the bridge and turned with a determined look in her pale silver eyes. No, she needed to do something, she needed to swallow her pride so that she could help her team. Her team was in danger because of this fog. With a low growl of irritation, Kiyomiko bit her lower lip, her delicate hands balling up into fists as she closed her eyes. There was nothing else left to do, nothing else left to rely on.. but..

"_Yuki._"

She didn't have to say anything else, she could already feel the gentle trickle of chakra seeping into her system, her body temperature rapidly decreasing as the amount of freezing cold chakra began to build up in her body, but Kiyomiko never felt cold. It restored her strength, just as it always did, quickly matching what little chakra she had left, then swallowing it up and pushing it aside, replacing it completely as frost began to form at her feet, frozen veins of white-blue creeping outwards around her, covering the wet concrete. After a few moments, Yuki's chakra gradually abated, lessening into a faint trickle again before it tapered off completely. Kiyomiko was once again at full strength, and then some. She chuckled slightly as she opened her pale silver eyes, a slight touch of bitterness in her gaze as she drew her fan from her sash and opened it with a delicate click. She really hated to rely on Yuki's chakra but.. She was grateful.. Just this once.

Kiyomiko inhaled slowly as she raised her fan high, pouring her borrowed chakra into it, faintly glowing with a pale white-blue glow of energy before Kiyomiko exhaled and swung her fan in a wide arc, a massive gust of cold air coming off of the sea behind her. The wind rushed passed her and travelled over the length of the bridge, taking Zabuza's fog with it, revealing the scene before her. There was Kakashi, standing over a still form of a familiar boy, Naruto standing a short distance away with tears in his eyes as he yelled at Zabuza, shouting words that Kiyomiko couldn't comprehend over the pounding in her ears. The boy.. The still form of the boy at Kakashi's feet was the boy from the forest. He..

She was walking, her movements slow and measured, nothing wasted as her geta gave off a hollow and monotone clack against the concrete, her head lowered so that her bangs shadowed her eyes and hid them. Kakashi turned first, glancing over his shoulder once before he did a double-take, then Naruto, who's eyes widened as Kiyomiko passed, and then Zabuza when she came to a stop beside the boy's stilled form, lowering to one knee as she looked down at him. There was a hole through his chest, about fist-size for an adult, burns and charred flesh tunneling through his body where his heart had once been. So.. Kakashi had killed him. Judging by the bloody fingerprints left over the boy's eyes, Kakashi had felt remorse and closed his eyes afterwards, a last act of kindness.

"_Ne_.. Zabuza-san.." Kiyomiko spoke quietly, her voice startlingly devoid of emotion as she knelt over the boy's body, one delicate hand hovering just over his torso as if she wanted to heal him but.. she couldn't heal death. No one could, no matter how hard they tried. Zabuza was still standing some feet away, beside Kakashi and Naruto, but she could feel his eyes on her back, watching her every move. "This boy.. What's his name?"

"Haku."

"Haku.." Kiyomiko repeated softly, gently bobbing her head once in a slow nod as if to confirm it before she stood up in one fluid motion, her head still lowered slightly. In one hand, she held a broken mask, Haku's mask, one eye and part of the forehead broken away and she held it up to her chest almost as if she were hugging it. "Alright. I won't forget now."

"You knew him..?" Zabuza asked, looking down at Kiyomiko, his arms hanging limply at his sides, blood trickling from wounds that looked like animal bites. He couldn't use his arms and he was exhausted, Kakashi had really worn him out.

"I met him in the forest a week ago.. He was gathering herbs to heal your wounds. We found each other and agreed to a temporary truce until you and Kakashi had fully recovered.." Kiyomiko explained, her voice quiet as everyone listened, looking down at her still form as she hugged Haku's mask to her chest, her long black hair hanging around her shoulders and back, her bangs covering her eyes. Her shoulders trembled only once. "I knew him well enough to know that he cared for you, Zabuza-san. I don't understand why this had to happen.. He was _good_.."

For a while, everything was quiet, almost as if Zabuza was trying to think of something to say, some way of explaining but he fell silent when a teardrop fell onto the mask that Kiyomiko was cradling in her arms, rolling down the cheek of the carved face as if it were crying too. She knew it was foolish to cry, to let everyone see her tears like this but she just couldn't stop them and she didn't understand why. She barely knew Haku.. So why were the tears rolling down her cheeks so steadily? No.. She knew why she was crying. Even though she had only met Haku once, she had felt a connection, a similarity between them, a shadowed past that they both shared. She knew that he cared for Zabuza so deeply and Kiyomiko had both envied and resented the boy for that connection, that bond that he had been able to make when all of her bonds had been cut away.

"Well, it looks like you've been soundly beaten, Zabuza!" An unfamiliar voice broke the silence and echoed through the air, causing Kiyomiko to flinch, her grip on Haku's mask tightening when a large collection of scents reached her nose. She saw Zabuza look passed her and tense and she knew that something was wrong. Turning as well, Kiyomiko saw a man walking down the bridge, a massive crowd of mercenaries and ruffians gathered behind him, a leering look of triumph on his fat ugly face. "I'm disappointed! I wasted a lot of money on you."

"Gatoh!" Zabuza growled as the man came to a stop beside Haku's body, paying no mind to Kiyomiko as he looked down at Haku with a sickening smirk. He was wearing a fancy dark suit and carrying a cane, his hair greyed and frizzy, slicked back to reveal a slightly-receeding hairline while dark, rounded sunglasses covered his beady eyes. Every sense in Kiyomiko's body _screamed_ at her that this guy.. needed to die.

"Oh ho..? Well! Look what we have here!" Gatoh sneered, lifting his cane to prod at Haku's body, roughly jabbing at the boy's face and Kiyomiko froze when something in her chest clenched so painfully that she cringed. "It looks like this _little brat_ wasn't so tough after all!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Naruto shouted, his voice cracking as he growled at Gatoh from behind Kiyomiko, but the boy was ignored as Gatoh kept jabbing and prodding at Haku's body, leaving cane-shaped bruises and welts behind.

"Zabuza-san.. It looks like your contract has just been revoked.." Kiyomiko spoke up as the temperature around her dropped so sharply that frost began to cake the wet ground she stood on, creeping outwards as anger radiated from every fiber of her being, her tone causing even Gatoh to hesitate for a moment. She turned slightly, looking over her shoulder with one eye as she glared at Zabuza. "Is the Demon of the Hidden Mist _really_ just going to _stand there_?"

"Seems like I was wrong about you, kid. You've got a _great_ look in your eyes!" Zabuza chuckled slightly, a dark and mirthless sound that seemed to rumble from somewhere deep in his chest before he began to tear the bandages away from the lower half of his face, revealing sharp and pointed teeth like a shark. "_Ne_, _musume_.. What's your name?"

"Kiyomiko" Kiyomiko answered as she turned to face Zabuza, a slight smile on her face though her pale silver eyes glinted like the steel point of a sharpened kunai. They were not the eyes of a child but the eyes of one who has seen death and even been the cause of it, a predator's gaze.

"Let me guess.. Written like "child of pure beauty"?" Zabuza smirked slightly, his tone betraying a touch of sarcasm, dry humor as Kakashi and Naruto stood back a ways, the Jonin watching over his student with a sort of grim curiousity. This was the first time she'd let her mask slip, even slightly, revealing the truth of who she was. Ironic that it would happen in the presence of a hired killer.

"No. It's written Ki-Yomi-Ko." Kiyomiko replied with a slight shake of her head and Zabuza seemed to understand where the conversation was heading, his smirk widening as if he were looking at her in a new light. "Child spirit of the Underworld."

"I knew there was something I liked about you." Zabuza's dark eyes lingered on Kiyomiko for a moment before he looked over her shoulder at Gatoh, the disgusting little man going pale for a moment as he took a sharp step back, away from Haku's body. Zabuza turned slightly to look at Naruto, his dark gaze slightly softened as he looked at the blonde boy, his tone lacking all malice. "Boy.. Give me your kunai.. It's about time I ended this."

"Hn.." Naruto nodded, his bright blue eyes hard as he gave his kunai a light toss in Zabuza's direction, which the man caught between his shark teeth, a wicked look coming to his dark eyes as he glared at Gatoh. Zabuza's killing intent was palpable, so thick in the air that it could have been cut by a knife and a thrill travelled down Kiyomiko's spine as Gatoh sensed the very real danger and started to panic, running back towards the crowd of mercenaries as Zabuza began his charge, running passed Kiyomiko.

For a split second, time slowed as Zabuza cast Kiyomiko a sideways glance, his eyes showing an emotion only meant for her. Gratitude. Kiyomiko returned his glance with a silvery gaze of her own, a silent reply of understanding and then the fraction of a second was over. With that, Zabuza turned and glared at Gatoh while Kiyomiko lowered her gaze to the mask in her arms, Haku's mask.. Zabuza would surely die before he reached Gatoh, those mercenaries may not be very strong but there were a lot of them. A slight smirk touched her features as she turned the mask over in her hands. This was just _begging_ for trouble, but.. She would offer Haku one last act of kindness.. and see it through to the end. She would protect Zabuza until he had killed Gatoh.

"Kakashi.. _Gomen_." Kiyomiko said to the Jonin behind her without looking back as she lifted Haku's mask to her face, fastening it in place by tying the black cords before she pulled her long black hair up like Haku's, leaving her long bangs down to frame her face, one pale silver eye exposed through the broken portion of the mask. She heard Kakashi's breath hitch in his throat behind her and she knew he had tensed.. He knew what she was going to do. In that moment, Kiyomiko ceased to be, however temporarily, as she ran after Zabuza, her geta clacking loudly over the concrete of the bridge, drawing handfuls of senbon needles and whipping them at the mercenaries ahead of Zabuza. She didn't kill any of them, merely paralyzed them, and the man glanced back with wide eyes filled with understanding as soon as he saw her.

"Alright, kid. You wanna honor Haku that badly, then _let's go!_" Zabuza's voice was barely above a growl as he grinned, truely looking like a demon as he released the full power of his killing intent and Kiyomiko matched him move for move. As Zabuza ran through the massive crowd of mercenaries, Kiyomiko shielded him, downing men with her senbon left and right as she parried attacks with her jagged kunai with a strange fluidity that didn't seem like her own and she chuckled softly. Haku was with her. All of a sudden, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a strange heat filled the air around her and she turned, seeing one of the mercenaries hurling a massive fireball towards Zabuza.

"_Zabuza-san!_" Kiyomiko's body moved on it's own and suddenly, she was standing in front of Zabuza with her hands raised, palms facing the ball of fire as she summoned up all of her frigid chakra, guiding the water around her to form into a thick rectangular barrier of ice so pure that it shined like a mirror. The ball of fire washed over the ice like a wave but the ice never melted, the fiery attack dispersing after a few moments and Kiyomiko blinked, surprised by what she had done before she saw Zabuza's proud expression in the reflection of the ice as he looked at her from behind.

"Nice catch, Haku!" Zabuza smirked and the ice shattered, allowing him to continue forward and Kiyomiko understood then. That had been one of _Haku's_ techniques. She didn't understand how she'd been able to perform it but.. at the moment, that wasn't important, she still needed to protect Zabuza, so she charged after him, only a single step behind him through the whole affair.

By now, they had nearly reached the end of the bridge where the rest had yet to be built and there was Gatoh, standing at the edge with a terrified look on his face as the two demons descended upon him, death in their eyes as they glared at him. Just as they cleared the crowd of mercenaries, Kiyomiko hung back, whirling on her heel to face the crowd of armed men with a feral gleam in her exposed eye while Zabuza charged ahead. A second later, she heard Gatoh's death scream and she smiled beneath Haku's mask, grateful that justice had been served, not just for Haku but for everyone on the island. The crowd of mercenaries seemed shocked still and Kiyomiko turned, seeing Zabuza standing behind her as he watched Gatoh, kunai jabbed into his throat, falling over the edge of the bridge and into the raging seawater below. It was done and as soon as that thought registered in her mind, Zabuza seemed to sway slightly, slumping forward as if he might fall. Kiyomiko was beside him in a heartbeat, freezing in place when she saw the small dagger sticking out of his chest. Gatoh's last act.. He hadn't dodged it..

"Zabuza-san.."

"It's done.. Haku.." Zabuza sighed as he turned to look at Kiyomiko, his dark eyes glassy and unfocused as a slight and exhausted smile appeared on his features. That's right. Kiyomiko had become Haku. Then.. It was fine.

"Hai, Zabuza-san.." Kiyomiko said quietly, mimicking Haku's tone as she took Zabuza's arm and gently draped it over her shoulder, supporting his weight as she turned to look up at him. "Shall we go.. together?"

They both knew the meaning behind her words and Zabuza seemed to let himself relax against her somewhat before he nodded and took a careful step forward. Kiyomiko matched his pace and soon the two were walking down the bridge towards the real Haku's body, where Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven were waiting, watching with grim and solemn expressions. The crowd of mercenaries had begun to disperse, scattering to the four winds because of some kind of commotion down at the other end of the bridge but Kiyomiko paid them no mind. Heavy clouds rolled overhead, hiding the sun's rays as a chill formed in the air, the weather finally taking a turn for the worst as Kiyomiko guided Zabuza down the bridge, slowing to a stop beside the real Haku's body. By now, she was supporting most of his weight and she slowly and carefully lowered him, laying him down beside Haku as Kakashi approached from behind her.

"You were always at my side.. The least I can do is be beside you at the end.." Zabuza's voice was rough and hoarse, hard to hear over the commotion nearby but Kiyomiko stayed, kneeling beside the man in his last moments, her hand in his as he reached to the real Haku's face with the other. "I know it cannot be, but I wish I could go to where you have gone.. How I wish I could join you there.. Haku.."

"You will, Zabuza-san." Kiyomiko said quietly, reaching up to remove Haku's mask from her face with one hand, her long black hair slipping free of their binds and tumbling down her shoulders as she leaned over Zabuza with a solemn expression. He turned slightly to look at her, though he was too weak to move his head more than an inch or two and she managed a faint but reassuring smile. "No matter what you've done in the past, you've redeemed yourself today. You'll be able to see Haku again. This time.. You should tell him, face to face, how you feel. It would make him happy to know that you care for him so much."

"Hn. Yeah.. I'll.. do that.." Zabuza chuckled slightly, his voice fading to little more than a whisper as he gently squeezed her hand before he slowly turned his gaze back to Haku's face. "Kiyomiko.. It's a good name.. for you. You should keep.. Haku's mask.. he would want.. you to have it.."

"Alright. I will.." Kiyomiko nodded, her voice low as she swiped at her eyes with the back of her free hand. Kakashi was standing behind her now.. and she didn't want him to see her crying again. "It's not polite to keep someone waiting."

"_Ah_.."

Kiyomiko sat in silence as she watched the light fade from Zabuza's eyes and still, she stayed, his hand relaxing in hers, yet still she stayed, kneeling beside Zabuza and Haku, her bangs hiding her eyes as a cold breeze swept across the bridge. Gatoh was dead and the mercenaries he had hired had scattered like rats, chased off by the people of the island.. Tazuna could build the bridge in peace now and everyone could get on with their lives. It was over and she knew that she would soon be returning to Konoha but.. a piece of her would stay behind with Zabuza and Haku, while they would come with her, forever remaining within a fragment of her memory. She would never forget them and she etched that vow into her very soul.

"Kiyomiko.."

She barely heard Kakashi's voice behind her before she swayed, collapsing to one side on the cold and wet concrete, exhaustion finally sinking in as Kiyomiko felt the recoil from using too much of Yuki's chakra at once. Her small body just couldn't keep up. She laid there for a second before the scent of summer rain and electricity filled her senses, Kakashi gathering her small form into his arms and she tightly clutched Haku's mask in her hand while everything else hung loose, her pale silver eyes flat and barely open.

"You've pushed yourself too hard.. _Baka_." Kakashi's voice reached her from somewhere very close and she managed a light smirk, the Jonin repeating what she had told him when he'd collapsed after the first battle against Zabuza, word for word. She could hear the slight amusement in his tone and she chuckled slightly, resting her head against his shoulder as her eyes slowly closed. She hated being carried but.. for now.. it wasn't so bad.

"You smell like.. a thunderstorm.. Kakashi.."

-(o.o)-

Team Seven stayed in the Land of Waves for another two weeks while the islanders worked together to finish the bridge to completion in a remarkably short amount of time. Zabuza and Haku were buried on a quiet hillside looking over the ocean and Kiyomiko visited the graves every day, burning incense every time until the day that she had to return to Konoha. She still had Haku's mask, she had carefully picked up the shattered pieces and wrapped them up in silk to repair when she returned to Konoha, so she wasn't leaving them behind, not really. Slowly, Kiyomiko had recovered from her exhaustion and everything returned to normal. It was peaceful, even as they were saying goodbye to Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari and everyone else on the island, and the journey back to Konoha was quiet and uneventful.

A full week later, Kiyomiko walked through the gates of Konoha with a mildly annoyed expression, her arms raised and her fingers knit together behind her head as she walked beside Naruto and Sakura. As soon as Konoha came into view, Kakashi immediately disappeared to give his report to the Hokage while Sasuke had snuck away to.. well, be Sasuke. The mid-day sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the cicadas were buzzing on the trees, the mid-spring warmth hanging thick in the air. For Kiyomiko, weather like this was hell. It was too hot, too dry, too bright. Though, something was different about the village and that distracted Kiyomiko enough from her mental complaints. There seemed to be more people milling around the market row and Kiyomiko looked at each of them closely as she passed, only half listening to Naruto and Sakura chattering away on either side of her. The new people in the village were wearing symbols from different villages and Kiyomiko took note before Naruto interrupted her train of thoughts.

"_Ne, ne_, Kiyo-chan!" Naruto's bright blue eyes and sunny smile suddenly filled Kiyomiko's field of vision as the boy jumped in front of her, walking backwards through the crowd as Sakura gave a soft groan of annoyance. "How about you, do _you_ wanna go on a date with me?"

"You just asked me because Sakura turned you down." Kiyomiko sighed, folding her arms across her chest, Naruto looking like he'd been caught red-handed. She couldn't go out on a date with Naruto anyway, the boy was like a little brother to her. Besides, she knew he cared for Sakura. "Nope, I'm going to go back to my apartment, get cleaned up and then stop by the teahouse by the hospital. I feel like relaxing for the rest of the day."

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and walked off through the crowds, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone together and she heard Sakura's mortified groan from behind her before Naruto gave a cheer. Kiyomiko smirked at that as she rounded a corner and quickly located her apartment building, taking the stairs up to the top floor instead of scaling the wall to her balcony like she usually did. She was exhausted from the week-long journey anyway. Walking into her quiet and empty apartment, however, gave her no solace and Kiyomiko walked through it towards her bedroom as if she were on auto-pilot. Setting her knapsack down on the foot of her bed, Kiyomiko opened up her closet and carefully laid down a silk-bound package, Haku's broken mask, which she needed to repair when she had free time.

After thoroughly bathing, Kiyomiko walked back into her bedroom and stared into her closet with a sigh of disdain. Her yukata was all torn up and blood-stained. She couldn't wear it in public now. Grabbing the nearest outfit, Kiyomiko sat down on the foot of her bed and wound fresh bandages over her legs, from ankle to knee, before she did the same with her arms, from knuckles to bicep, wrapping still more around her neck to cover her scars. After that, she donned a pair of charcoal grey loose and flowing shorts that hung to just passed her knees and a lighter grey sleeveless shirt with an oversized cowl around her neck. Slipping her feet into her geta, Kiyomiko pulled her long black hair up into a messy ponytail, her long bangs hanging on either side of her face and secured with silver tube-like clasps like Haku's, before she tied her forehead protector around her waist. Once again, she was completely monochrome and she gave her reflection a slight smirk as she looked away from the mirror, grabbing up her black canvas knapsack and leaving her apartment.

Swinging her legs over her balcony railing, Kiyomiko landed in the alley beside her apartment in a gust of cold air as her geta clicked primly against the soil, the girl giving a soft sigh as she walked out of the shadowy alley and into the mid-day sunlight of Konoha. Weaving through the crowded streets, Kiyomiko made her way to the teahouse between her apartment and the hospital and walked inside with a terribly bored expression. Then she paused and looked around, her eyebrow giving a slight, miniscule twitch in annoyance. The normally deserted teahouse was _packed_ with people, mostly shinobi from other villages, _every single table full_. All eyes seemed to glance at her as she walked in, almost like they were sizing her up before the foreign shinobi went back to their meals, dismissing her completely.

"Oh, Mama, Kiyo-chii is back!" The owner's daughter, Suzume, appeared from the back room as Kiyomiko walked up to the counter. Suzume was a pretty girl, older than Kiyomiko, with long brown hair often tied back in a high ponytail, deep blue eyes and sunkissed skin and today she was wearing a plain blue sleeveless yukata as she carried around a wooden tray laden with tea and dango.

"I really wish you would stop calling me that, Suzume.." Kiyomiko sighed as a woman appeared from the back room, looking nearly identical to Suzume except older and with green eyes instead of blue. This woman was Suzuki, Suzume's mother and the owner of the teahouse. Kiyomiko gave the woman a lazy wave before she stuffed her hands into her pockets, glancing around at the large room for any sign of an open table. There were none. "Yo, Suzuki. I see business is booming."

"Yes, it is! The Chunin Exams are coming up, after all." Suzuki beamed, her eyes crinkling up with her smile before she put her hands on her hips, her head tilted slightly as she looked Kiyomiko over. "You look like a boy, Kiyo-chan. Did something happen to that pretty white yukata of yours?"

"Eh.. Just a tough mission, that's all." Kiyomiko answered with a drawl, giving the two women a dismissive wave before she paused. Both Suzume and Suzuki were exchanging an almost calculating glance before they turned their gaze towards her and Kiyomiko could swear that she saw the cogs turning in their heads, their minds working like skilled tacticians. Instantly, she knew something was up. "..what..?"

"_Ne_.. We're _really_ shorthanded today.." Suzume began with a cat-like smile, leaning forward slightly as she lowered her voice, her dark blue eyes narrowing slightly as if she were looking at a formidable opponent rather than Kiyomiko. "If _you_ could help us out, we can give you a free meal!"

"And I can even give you one of Suzume's old yukatas, if you like." Suzuki spoke up with a matching smile and Kiyomiko sweatdropped, the scene attracting the attention of almost every customer in the teahouse. Kiyomiko was up against two of the most formidable women in Konoha to date. Suzuki, the owner, had just opened the teahouse and was pregnant with Suzume when her husband ran off with one of the waitresses, leaving Suzuki to fend for herself and run the teahouse all on her own, and she pulled it off single-handedly. Suzume had inherited that trait from her mother and was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. And now _both_ women had their sights set on little Kiyo-chii.

"Crap.." Kiyomiko glanced around the teahouse for any getaway route or friendly faces only to find that everyone was suddenly staring intently at their tables and there wasn't a single familiar face among them. She was trapped and her head dropped, her shoulders slumping forward with the realization. She wasn't getting out of this and she could hear the triumphant chuckles of Suzuki and Suzume ahead of her as she sighed in defeat. "Fine.."

"Alright! Mama, I'll take care of things out here if you take Kiyo-chii into the back and get her changed!" Suzume cheered, a bright smile on her face as she jogged around behind Kiyomiko and took her shoulders, practically _shoving_ the slender girl towards Suzuki as the woman walked towards the back room with a similar smile.

"Wait, changed?!" Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes went wide as she tried to turn and look at Suzume only to have her wrists captured by Suzuki, the older woman leading Kiyomiko into the back room while the younger girl stayed behind.

"Oh, _of course_, dear! We can't have you working here when you look like a boy!" Suzuki chimed in as she pulled Kiyomiko through the curtained doorway into the back room and out of sight. Out in the teahouse, the customers were now looking mildly amused by the free entertainment as the voices of the woman and the girl could be heard from the back room.

"O-oie, _kora_! Just where do you think you're touching?!"

"Just how many weapons do you have hidden on you, girl?!... Though, I have to admit, you're _very_ creative when you hide them!"

"_Ack!_ What's with the length of that skirt?! I can't wear shorts under that!"

"You don't wear _shorts_ under a yukata! Now stop being such a baby and _hold still_!"

"J-just stop touching me! I'll do it myself!"

"No, no, not until we do something about that hair of yours, _Osamurai-san!_"

"Wait, why are you putting bells in my hair?! Do you have _any idea_ how hard it is to move without being heard?"

"Just think of it as training if you're so bothered by it!"

"_Aggh!_ That's it! We're done!"

"_Hai!_ You were done anyway!"

All of a sudden, a young girl burst out of the curtained doorway and into the teahouse, her geta clicking against the wooden floor as she stumbled slightly, the faint sound of bells twinkling as she moved until she caught herself and everything went perfectly silent. Kiyomiko was wearing a yukata made out of a soft, thin silk that hugged her slender body and showed off just how tiny and fragile she really looked, long sleeves hanging down to her knees while the skirt of the yukata abruptly ended mid-thigh, showing a near scandalous amount of skin while still somehow looking strangely adorable. The yukata was pale blue, patterned with a stylized design like smoke or wind curling across the pale blue fabric, a few small silver butterflies dotting the material. The obi was made out of a soft silver silk, the bow tied like butterfly wings, a pale blue silk _obiage_ worn beneath it while a matching pale blue _obijime_, the silk cord tied into an almost comically cute over-the-top bow. Kiyomiko's long, flowing black hair hung loose down to the swell of her hips, the top layer pulled back into a delicate braid down her spine while two silver ribbons curled into a bow on the back of her head, two tiny silver bells hanging there.

Kiyomiko's pale, pupil-less silver eyes were wide, gently lined with charcoal and neatly shaded with a pale blue powder over her eyelids while a pale pink blush colored her delicately rounded cheeks and a clear gloss coated her full lips. Even Suzume was shocked into silence at Kiyomiko's suddenly feminine, fragile, dainty appearance and Kiyomiko quickly recovered from the shock of having her boyish clothes stolen from her, picking up a wooden tray as she turned and stalked over to Suzume for her marching orders. The customers quickly looked away as Kiyomiko walked through the teahouse, taking orders and delivering tea and snacks to tables, her geta and bells perfectly silent through the teahouse as she moved, almost as if she had taken Suzuki's comment about the bells as a personal challenge. As she walked from the back room, carrying two trays full of boiling hot green tea and snacks, one of the customers accidentally knocked over their plate of fresh dango. In a flash of movement, Kiyomiko set down her trays and pulled a handful of senbon from her hair, whipping the slender silver needles at the dango. The needles skewered the feet and stuck into the wood of the nearby counter harmlessly, preventing the dango from touching the floor. After a few seconds of surprised silence, there was a wave of applause and Kiyomiko blushed, quickly getting back to work before she attracted any more attention.

The day wore on slowly while more and more people packed into the already crowded teahouse, a few of them people she knew but mostly everyone was from other villages and Kiyomiko did her best to remain subtle while she kept an eye on them. Around early afternoon, two shinobi walked into the teahouse and quickly took a seat in the shadowy corner, where Kiyomiko usually sat because she could see the whole room from there without fear of someone sneaking up on her, and Kiyomiko walked over to take their order. The girl had sandy blonde hair pulled back into four messy pigtails and dark green eyes, wearing a simple light purple dress, fishnet and a red sash around her waist. The boy, however.. was just _weird_. He was wearing what looked like black pajamas with a loose hat-thing that came up to two points almost like cat ears and purple facepaint streaked into sharp points and angles across his somewhat chubby baby-face. They both looked to be a year, maybe two, older than her and they both wore the symbol for Sunagakure.

But.. Unfortunately, Kiyomiko got distracted by the huge object, nearly as tall as she was, wrapped in black cloth and leaned against the wall in the corner. Immediately, Kiyomiko's eyes lit up as she promptly forgot what she was doing and hurried over to it with an impish smile, kneeling beside it as she looked it over. It was a _huge_ battle fan, lovingly crafted and well-maintained, and Kiyomiko could see the story of it's use from the few scrapes and scratches across the surface of the metal, almost as if she were reading a book while she admired the craftsmanship, lightly running her fingers over the smooth frame. Kiyomiko was, admittedly, a little too giddy about weapons. Whenever she found one she'd never seen before, she immediately had to investigate, learning how it worked, what attacks would be best for it and where she could get one should the need arise. It was a terrible habit for a girl living in a ninja village...

"Oie.. Waitress.. What'cha doin' to my fan?" An annoyed female voice caused Kiyomiko to blink for a moment before she looked up with a slight blush on her cheeks. The blonde girl with the messy pigtails was looking down at Kiyomiko while she knelt over the girl's weapon while the pajama guy just sat there looking slightly stunned.

"Ah, _gomen_! It's such a pretty fan that I just couldn't help myself!" Kiyomiko babbled with a bashful smile, rubbing the back of her head slightly. "Judging by this fan, you're a wind-user from Sunagakure. I can tell by the craftsmanship and the condition that you take great care of it. You must love it dearly."

"Eh..? You can tell all that just by looking at her fan?" The guy in the cat pajamas blinked, looking surprised as he pointed at the girl's weapon. "I mean, it's obvious she's a wind-user but how can you tell that we're from Suna without looking at our forehead protectors?"

"Oh, I've been there. This fan was made by Atsushi Daiki, wasn't it? I recognize the maker's mark here on the grip." Kiyomiko pointed to the tiny circular mark, barely an inch across, down at the bottom of the fan. She wasn't even thinking as she stood and slipped her fan from her sleeve in one fluid motion, showing it to the blonde girl who was sort of sitting there in a kind of stunned silence as Kiyomiko pointed to a similar symbol on her own fan. "I had my fan repaired by him once, so I recognize his handiwork."

"You're... kind of a strange girl, aren't you?" The blonde girl looked up at Kiyomiko with a slightly quirked brow before she smirked and chuckled somewhat. Kiyomiko couldn't help the blush that crossed her cheeks and gave another bashful smile as she slipped her fan back into her sleeve, the guy in the cat pajamas laughing all the while.

"I guess I can get a little too excited about weapons. When I was little, my father let me train with whatever weapons I wanted..." Kiyomiko explained, her smile faltering slightly as she lowered her gaze somewhat, clasping her hands together in front of her. The two Sand shinobi seemed to notice the change and sobered somewhat. "He always said that versatility was important and learning how to use every kind of weapon would make me stronger as a kunoichi. You never know when you may be forced to use a weapon you're unfamiliar with.. So, I guess it's just become a sort of obligation or compulsion now. Pretty silly, huh?"

"Nah, that's actually pretty smart." The blonde girl said with a smile of slight understanding, looking up at Kiyomiko as she stood beside the table. "What's your name, kid? I'm Temari and that's my brother, Kankuro."

"_Hajimemashite_. I'm Kiyomiko." Kiyomiko bobbed her head as she slightly bent at the waist in a short bow, a polite smile touching her youthful features as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before she stood upright again. "Are you two here for the Chunin Exams? Suzuki, the owner of this teahouse, mentioned something about it. I'm actually surprised that my baka-sensei hasn't brought it up to my team yet."

"Yeah, we're here for the Exams." The blonde girl, Temari, answered with a slightly strained smile while Kankuro's features darkened slightly as he looked down at the tabletop in front of him and Kiyomiko noticed their reactions but she pretended as if she hadn't. She and Temari talked for about an hour more before Suzume started to scold Kiyomiko for slacking off and she had to get back to work. It didn't take long for Temari and Kankuro to finish their tea and snacks before they left, leaving an open table which Kiyomiko promptly filled, sitting back and pouring herself a glass of cold barley tea.

The sun was high overhead and people were filtering in and out of the teahouse in an endless stream of people, ordering their refreshments before they promptly left, most of them sightseeing around the village as if it were some sort of tourist attraction. Then again, it was _inconcievably rare_ for outsiders to be allowed inside a Hidden Village, which Kiyomiko knew all too well. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko sat back in the wooden chair and relaxed somewhat, watching the people as they came and went while she sipped her cold tea, enjoying the miniscule amount of peace she gained from it before she felt something brush against her bare leg beneath the chair. Blinking, Kiyomiko looked down, one hand feeling around beneath the chair until her fingertips brushed across supple leather. It was a coinpurse, hanging from a loose nail on the underside of the chair where Temari had been sitting! Judging by the scent, it was Temari's and it had probably slipped out of her pocket and gotten stuck on the nail when Temari had gotten up to leave!

"_Yabe!_ Suzume, I'm done for the day! I'll take a raincheck on that free meal!" Kiyomiko shouted hurriedly, grabbing up the coinpurse and her belongings from the back room before she practically flew out of the teahouse in an attempt to locate the two Sand siblings. Kiyomiko couldn't pick up their scents anywhere because there were so many unfamiliar scents around her and she just couldn't discern one from the other and she sighed with annoyance. Time to do things the old fashioned way!

Stowing Temari's coinpurse in her obi, Kiyomiko left the busy dirt roads and took to the skies, or as close as she could get, jumping up and running along fences as she searched the crowds for the familiar head of sandy blonde hair. They hadn't gone down towards the market and they weren't near the Academy either but just as she was about to give up, Kiyomiko found them. Temari and Kankuro stood on a quiet sidestreet between districts, standing with their backs to her, Kankuro holding up a child by the front of his shirt. It was Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandson, the boy that practically worshipped Naruto. Sure enough, Naruto, Sakura and two of Konohamaru's friends, Udon and Moegi, were there as well, facing off against Kankuro and shouting at him. _Great. More drama._ Kiyomiko sighed softly, her geta and two small bells silent as she walked along the top of the fence, perfectly balanced despite the surface being less than two inches wide.

"Yo, Temari-chan." Kiyomiko came to a stop on the fence beside Temari with a fox-like smirk as the girl seemed to jump somewhat, whirling around to look up at Kiyomiko with wide eyes, apparently startled by Kiyomiko's sudden appearance beside her. Kankuro, Naruto and Sakura all looked up, apparently surprised as well.

"Wait.. You're that waitress.. Kiyomiko-chan?" Temari pointed up at Kiyomiko, a flicker of recognition dawning over her tomboyish features as she blinked a few times. Kiyomiko's long black hair swayed slightly as a gentle breeze swept down the quiet sidestreet and she paused somewhat, two scents reaching her nose. One of them was Sasuke, she knew that much, but the other was unfamiliar. Blood.. but also cinnamon, cloves and sand.. It was farther away, as if someone were hanging back a bit.

"Very nice. You remembered my name." Kiyomiko chuckled as she lowered into a slight crouch on the fence, her geta still perfectly balanced as she made sure to maintain her modesty despite the ridiculously short skirt of her new yukata. Reaching into her obi, Kiyomiko retrieved the little leather pouch and held it out to Temari, her fox-like smirk widening slightly as the little leather ouch dangled from her delicate fingers. "I believe this is yours? I found it hanging from a loose nail under the chair you were sitting in earlier. I assume that you dropped it after paying for your tea and left without noticing."

"Kiyo-chan, you know these jerks?!" Naruto cried, running up to Kiyomiko, suddenly stopping in his tracks as his angry expression faltered, his bright blue eyes travelling over Kiyomiko, a faint flicker of awe and confusion in his gaze when he saw her new yukata.

"I met them at the teahouse by the hospital a little while ago." Kiyomiko answered with a slight drawl, looking over at Kankuro with a bored expression as she propped her chin in her palm. Konohamaru was still struggling to get free of Kankuro's grip, but the boy was otherwise unharmed. Kiyomiko let one of her more chilling smiles appear on her face, causing Naruto and Sakura to pale when she started to speak in a purposefully sweet and innocent tone. "Kankuro-kun.. Why are you terrorizing a child?"

"This little brat ran into me!" Kankuro defended, his grip on the front of Konohamaru's shirt tightening and Kiyomiko sighed inwardly. Boys were always so simple-minded. Fight, fight, fight, train some, fight some more. It got so _predictable_. "I'm gunna teach him a lesson!"

"And what a valuable lesson indeed!" Kiyomiko smiled sweetly as she stood up in one fluid motion, holding one index finger up as if she were a lecturing teacher. "Pay close attention, Konohamaru-kun! Kankuro-kun is teaching you something very important! Just because someone is older or bigger does not necessarily mean that they're any more mature or smarter than you!"

"Why you-!"

"And there's the opening I was looking for." Kiyomiko's smile widened slightly as she summoned up her chakra and called forth a rope of water from thin air without even making any hand seals, flicking it at Konohamaru and wrapping it around the boy's waist, giving it a gentle tug that sent the small boy sailing into her waiting arms. She caught him easily before she dropped down from the high fence, her geta clicking primly against the ground only because she allowed the noise to be heard. With a light sigh, Kiyomiko lowered Konohamaru to his feet and the boy quickly scurried over to his friends beside Naruto and Sakura as Kiyomiko stood between them and the rather angry-looking Kankuro. "Well, I have to say that was rather boring."

"That's _it_!" Kankuro growled, reaching up to grab at the large object on his back, bundled up in ratty bandages with what looked like a tuft of brown hair or fur peeking out of the top. Kiyomiko watched with mild curiousity as he dropped it in front of him, glaring at her.

"Oie, leave it alone, Kankuro. You're going to get us in trouble.." Temari sighed with a bored expression, folding her arms across her chest as she watched the scene play out before her.

"If you want to play, Kankuro-kun, that's fine with me.. But.." Kiyomiko said quietly, her tone positively chilling as her fan appeared in her outstretched hand and she flicked it open easily, revealing the wind designs on the paper as she covered the lower half of her face primly, her pale and pupil-less silver eyes visible above the deadly-looking blades, corners slightly creased as if her smile had widened. "We should probably look for a better venue, don't you think? I'd rather not attract any.. unnecessary attention.."

Just as Kankuro opened his mouth to speak, a rock zipped out of the foliage of a nearby tree and hit the Sand shinobi squarely between the eyes and everyone turned to see Sasuke lazily perched upon a low branch, tossing two more rocks in his hand as he looked at the Sand siblings with one eye open. Kiyomiko just rolled her eyes and snapped her fan closed with a flick of her wrist, her expression one of total disinterest once again, causing Naruto and Sakura to breathe a sigh of relief while Temari and Kankuro seemed confused. Just as Sasuke stood, Kiyomiko slipped her fan into her obi, stretching her arms up and knitting her fingers together behind her head, her fingertips finding the senbon needles she had hidden in her hair almost reflexively, just in case. That had been a close call. Her mask had nearly slipped off completely, and in front of her teammates, no less.

"Sasuke, you really need to work on your timing." Kiyomiko sighed as Sakura gave a girlish squeal from behind her, little hearts appearing in her eyes causing Kiyomiko to nearly gag while the two boys started to posture like peacocks. It was really painful to watch and Kiyomiko was tempted to leave already, though that other scent had come closer now and she was curious about it..

"What are two outsiders doing in our village?" Sasuke asked, ignoring Kiyomiko completely as he looked down at Kankuro with a steady stare and Kiyomiko nearly facepalmed, an urge that only grew when she saw Konohamaru and Naruto behind her, pouting about how "cool" Sasuke was being.

"Great, another person who pisses me off!" Kankuro grumbled as he glared up at Sasuke, his grip tightening on the bandaged object that sat in front of him and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed on it as Temari just threw up her hands and sighed, walking a short distance away as if she were saying she didn't care anymore.

"Kankuro, stop." An emotionless voice reached her ears and Kankuro froze immediately, his eyes going wide while Temari bore a similar expression, both of them turning towards the voice and Kiyomiko followed their gaze. It came from the same tree that Sasuke was standing in and there she saw a boy, a little older than she was, standing upside-down from a branch on the other side of the tree from Sasuke. He had bright red hair cut short and messy, dark circles ringed around his sea blue eyes and a huge gourd strapped to his back, wearing the loose clothes common in Sunagakure. He looked kinda similar to Temari and Kankuro. A younger sibling, perhaps? Though, judging by their expressions, it was not a happy relationship. _How familiar_.

"G-gaara!" Kankuro started spluttering excuses and apologies as the boy's, Gaara's, eyes scanned his surroundings, eventually settling on Kiyomiko. They stared at each other for a moment, as if evaluating one another before she smiled up at him, her posture completely casual and relaxed.

"You're an embarassment to our village." Gaara interrupted Kankuro's babblings with a sharp look and the older boy flinched, falling silent. Sasuke, looking _ridiculously_ uncomfortable, jumped down from the tree and stood beside Kiyomiko, his posture tensed while she remained perfectly at ease. "Have you forgotten why we're here?"

"But _they_ started the whole thin-!"

"Shut up..." Gaara cut the older boy off again, his arms folded across his chest as he glared and Kiyomiko smirked inwardly, watching the whole encounter with a slight hint of amusement in her gaze, almost absent-mindedly wondering why Kankuro was so afraid of Gaara. "..Or I'll kill you."

_Ah. That explains it_.

"Not that it's any of my business, but I would think that killing is unnecessary in this situation, Gaara-kun." Kiyomiko interjected with a light sigh as she turned to look up at Gaara, ignoring the shocked stares of Temari and Kankuro as Gaara leveled his gaze on her. "It was just a minor disagreement that nearly led to a friendly sparring match, nothing more."

"Regardless.. I apologize for any trouble he caused." Gaara began before his body began to disintegrate into particles of sand, dropping from the tree to reform and reappear on the path ahead of her, between her and the Sand siblings behind him, his arms still folded across his chest as he looked at her with a totally blank expression. For a moment, he just stood there and looked at her while Sasuke tensed beside her but Kiyomiko let him look all he wanted. He wouldn't see passed her mask anyway. After what felt like a few minutes, he seemed to give up and he turned gesturing to Temari and Kankuro. "Let's go. We didn't come here to play games."

"Hold on a minute!" Sakura spoke up suddenly, taking a few steps forward just as Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were just about to leave, her usual unease replaced by a know-it-all tone that annoyed Kiyomiko to no end. One of these days, she was going to say the wrong thing and piss someone off. The three Sand shinobi turned with varying expressions of annoyance on their faces, though Gaara's expression hadn't changed. "Your forehead protectors show that you're from Sunagakure. It's true that the Land of Fire has good relations with the Land of Wind but no shinobi can enter another's village without the Hokage's permission. What are you doing here?"

"Sakura-chan.. I'm actually impressed by how dense you sound right now.." Kiyomiko dropped her head into her palm with a heavy sigh, ignoring Sakura's sharp glare before she started to explain. "They _do_ have permission to be here, directly from the Hokage himself. They're here for the Chunin Exams. Temari-chan and I were talking about it in the teahouse earlier."

"That's right!" Temari chimed in imperiously, pulling out the official-looking entry form with, complete with her picture and the Hokage's own signature. "Here's the proof, right here. My entry form! We all have one."

"_Ne, ne_.. Kiyo-chan.. What are the Chunin Exmas..?" Naruto asked dumbly, turning to Kiyomiko for an explanation and her head tilted to one side as if she were exhausted. She really liked Naruto but some days, she was just baffled by the amount of ignorance around her. Konoha was not conducive for learning, apparently.

"It's an exam that every Genin has to take before they can be promoted to a Chunin, Naruto." Kiyomiko explained with a bored expression, Naruto hanging on her every word. "The Chunin Exams started after the Third Ninja World War between all of the allied villages. They agreed to host the Exams twice a year, alternating between villages equally. It's mostly just posturing and showing off, like a venue where shinobi can show off their skills in an attempt to gain favor with the Daimyos or attract possible clients for their village, though there's a ridiculous amount of gambling as well. Anyway, it's Konohagakure's turn to host the Exams this time. I'm surprised no one else noticed all of the shinobi from other villages running around today."

"How do you always know so much?!" Naruto whined, sounding remarkably like a little kid as Kiyomiko sighed and just patted the boy's head, her eyebrow slightly twitching in annoyance. It really wasn't that hard to remember.. Then again, Kiyomiko wasn't exactly normal.. She remembered everything, whether she liked it or not.

"Hey.." Sasuke's voice interrupted Kiyomiko's bitter lamenting and she looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke staring at Gaara, apparently returning to his male posturing and bravado now that the explaining was out of the way, like he was trying to prove something. _God, he was annoying._ "What's your name?"

"Oh, do you mean me?" Temari swooned, pointing to herself as she cast Sasuke a hopeful glance, looking remarkably like Sakura and Kiyomiko actually facepalmed at that. She would _never_ understand why every girl she met was attracted to Sasuke. He wasn't even that good looking! Then again, maybe she was the strange one. Ah, well.

"No, I mean the guy with the gourd." Sasuke replied rather curtly, pointing at Gaara and ignoring Kiyomiko's reaction to Temari's question. Temari seemed slightly disappointed, though she hid it well, unlike Sakura who was positively fuming.

"Sabaku no Gaara." Gaara answered, his expression just as unreadable as ever as his aqua gaze flickered between Sasuke and Kiyomiko. "What are your names?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Kiyomiko." Kiyomiko replied with an easy sigh as her hands slipped into her sleeves, resting her weight on her right foot as she matched Gaara's gaze evenly.

"Last name?" Gaara's eyes locked on Kiyomiko and for a split second, she thought she could detect a trace of annoyance in his tone and she smirked inwardly at the new knowledge. _So, he's not completely emotionless after all. Interesting_.

"I don't have one. Blessedly, I'm an orphan now, so I'm no one important." Kiyomiko replied, ignoring the slightly surprised glances of her teammates behind her, plus Temari and Kankuro. Gaara seemed to pause at her words, watching Kiyomiko as she gave an easy jump up onto the high wooden fence beside the path, her geta clicking once when she landed as she turned to look back down at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. "Now that the theatrics are over, I'm bored, so I'm going back to my apartment for the night. Come and get me if anything interesting happens, hm?"

Without waiting for their replies, Kiyomiko gave a lazy half-wave before she turned and started walking along the fence, once again her geta and the bells in her hair completely silent as she walked. She could feel Gaara's gaze on her back but she didn't look over her shoulder, she just kept walking, taking another step before she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight, leaving the quiet sidestreet behind. Almost absent-mindedly, she wondered what kind of person Gaara was. There was something about him.. that she liked.

-(o.o)-

"Gaara.." Temari began, looking over at her younger brother with a flicker of uncertainty in her deep green eyes, the three Sand Siblings walking down the busy market street. "I'm curious.. I can understand why you asked the Uchiha boy for his name.. But why the girl?"

"I was wondering that too." Kankuro interjected, albeit reluctantly, as Gaara came to a stop on a corner, his aqua gaze looking up at a tall building made out of white stone near the center of the village. "She may have taken me by surprise back there with that flashy water move but she's just a waitress.. I could have taken her."

"Are you blind? She would have killed you." Gaara answered rhetorically, his tone completely devoid of emotion as he looked at the highest balcony of the apartment complex, seeing a familiar girl sitting on the railing of the balcony. Her eyes were closed and she faced the sunset, her long black hair swaying in the gentle breeze. She looked as if she were completely at peace, as if she were high above the world, not just literally or metaphorically but.. truely, she looked almost untouchable, seperated and removed from everything around her, as if she didn't belong. Temari and Kankuro blinked for a moment before they followed Gaara's gaze, their eyes widening when they saw the girl from earlier. "Could you truely not see the resemblance between them when that girl stood next to the Uchiha?"

"Wait.. You don't mean..?!" Temari's eyes went wide as she looked between Gaara and the girl on the balcony, her gaze shifting back and forth for a moment before it returned to Gaara. "But I thought..!"

"It would seem that the information we recieved may be incorrect." Gaara stated plainly as he watched the girl's eyes open before she stood up on the railing, balancing like an acrobat walking on a tightrope with her arms out on either side of her, a strangely amused expression on her face though there were traces of bitterness in her silvery gaze as well. "Let's keep this between us for now. We'll tell Baki when we find definitive proof."

* * *

Okay, time for a little explaining.

I -don't know for sure- if the translations of Kiyomiko's name is accurate. While I -have- been trying to learn the language, I can't -write- it to save my life so I don't know if her name is really written out like "child spirit of the underworld" but I decided to go with that even if it didn't make sense because in my own little world, it's fine! xD Besides, I did as much research as my ADHD would allow and I was able to deem it relatively acceptable after that.

Also, the song she sang in the beginning of the chapter is "KOKIA - Tenjin no Komoriuta" available on Youtube. I did take a few -very small- liberties with the lyrical translations, but it's essentially the same song. I wanted to give Kiyomiko a little bit of a creepy vibe early on in the story because.. well.. look at who Daddy is! Lol!

Anyway, please feel free to leave me some reviews and let me know how you think I'm doing on the rewrite! :D I'm always happy to respond to feedback.

Asia


	7. Blast From The Past

Woo! Chapter seven is rewritten!

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Two days later, Kiyomiko was leaning against the high wooden fence in front of the Academy as she waited for her team to show up. The day before, Kakashi had announced that he'd recommended Team Seven for the Chunin Exams, much to Naruto's delight and Kiyomiko's mild annoyance. There were a lot of people in the village, a lot of people that she didn't know and she knew for a fact that any one of them could be working for her father. She couldn't trust anyone and that realization had her on-edge as she stood in a shady spot, her arms folded across her chest with one eye open as she watched the Chunin-hopefuls that gathered, walking into the Academy to take the first of three tests and Kiyomiko watched them all _very_ closely, evaluating them and studying their movements, judging how hard they'd be in a fight, just as they were doing to her as they passed. There were some pretty heavy-hitters taking the test, it seemed, and Kiyomiko memorized every detail they gave away, even if it was trivial. That's how she'd been taught. That's how she'd managed to survive on her own.

Kiyomiko stood there calmly for all to see, like she didn't care who looked at her and that air of disinterest surrounded her. If she tried to hide who she was, she would just attract more attention, especially from the smarter shinobi who would notice that she was trying to hide something. So, she kept acting like everything was normal, even her attire reflecting that. She was wearing a new pure white yukata, long sleeves hanging down to her knees where the skirt ended, thin sash wrapped around her waist while clean bandages wound around her calves, ankle to knee, and around her neck beneath her forehead protector, proudly displayed over the nape of her neck. Her long black hair hung down her back, messy bangs slightly obscuring her eyes, fingernails and toenails painted a glossy black while her eyes were heavily lined with charcoal. Yes, she recieved her fair share of awkward glances, mostly from people who couldn't believe something like _her_ was a kunoichi but she didn't pay them any attention.

Soon, Sasuke showed up, followed by Naruto, and another twenty minutes passed before Sakura walked over to them with a slight frown, as if something were bothering her and Kiyomiko noticed but she said nothing while Naruto reprimanded the girl for being late and Sasuke remained silent as they walked into the Academy and up the first flight of stairs to the second floor. Just as they walked out of the stairwell, Kiyomiko sighed softly when she felt the barriers of a weak genjutsu and she dispelled it automatically, dismissing it as some prank as she kept walking. A large group of Genin were crowded around in the halls, all of them clamoring to enter a door that was being blocked by two sneering, arrogant-looking boys. Two very _familiar_ looking boys.

"Yo, Kotetsu, Izumo." Kiyomiko drawled as she gave the two transformed Chunin a lazy half-wave, causing them both to tense as she passed, as if they'd been caught red-handed, though Kiyomiko just kept walking, weaving through the crowd of annoyed students on her way towards the stairs. The two transformed Chunins breathed an almost impercievable sigh of relief when she mostly ignored them, quickly recovering their feigned annoying demeanors.

"O-oie, Kiyo-chan! Where are you going?!" Naruto called out from behind her and Kiyomiko sighed, her shoulders slumping somewhat when she turned to see that all eyes were on her. She knew most of the kids here from her time in the Academy but others she had only seen in passing. "This is the classroom that we're supposed to meet at!"

"Naruto, this is the second floor. The Chunin Exams are on the third floor in the next building over." Kiyomiko explained with a bored drawl, jerking a thumb over her shoulder towards the staircase behind her, ignoring the startled murmurs of the crowd. "We have a little while left before the Exams start but we shouldn't waste time. Come on."

"You guys should probably just take down that Genjutsu." Sasuke smirked, looking at the transformed Kotetsu and Izumo with an air of superiority that made Kiyomiko roll her eyes as she shook her head. _Here we go again._ "If even Kiyomiko can see through it, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else could as well. A jutsu of _that_ caliber only goes to show just how weak you are."

"Sasuke.. Just stop talking now." Kiyomiko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she resisted the urge to punch her own teammate but she was summarily ignored while Sasuke faced off against Kotetsu.

"Why you little-!" Kotetsu growled as he lowered into a stance, matched by Sasuke as both boys were about to attack each other and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed, sensing a sudden movement among the crowd and she acted on instinct. All of a sudden, she was crouched in front of Sasuke, skillfully blocking his kick with one hand around the ankle of his raised leg while something green had appeared beside her, blocking Kotetsu's kick in much the same fashion. Everything went dead quiet as Kiyomiko looked at the boy beside her with a sideways stare and he looked at her the same way, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

"Guy..? No.. You're not him." Kiyomiko breathed, her pale silver eyes looking over the boy beside her. He was almost an identical copy of Kakashi's friend, down to the bowl-cut of his black hair, the ridiculous green jumpsuit, orange legwarmers with the red forehead protector tied around his waist like a sash, but he was her age. _No. He's Mini-Guy_. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko stood upright and released Sasuke's ankle, ignoring the shocked and annoyed glare of her teammate as her hands disappeared into her long sleeves, her tone low and calm. "What did I _just_ say, Sasuke? We should be going now. We don't have time for theatrics."

"You broke your promise not to draw unnecessary attention, Lee." Another boy scowled as he walked up to the Mini-Guy and Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed. This new boy was wearing a loose and heavy cream-colored jacket with short sleeves and a high collar, dark shorts down to his knees and no visible weapons to speak of beyond a small kunai pouch on his right leg but that wasn't what drew her attention. This boy had white eyes that held no pupils, like hers but lighter, his dark brown hair swept back and tied loose down his back with his forehead protector securely fastened over his forehead. _Byakugan_. This boy was dangerous!

"_Gomen_, Neji, but I couldn't allow a fight to break out here in the hall." The green-clad boy, Lee, apologized with a slight smile to his teammate before he turned and paused, his dark eyes landing on Sakura with an almost _longing_ expression before he clamored over to the pink-haired girl. "My name is Rock Lee! You're Sakura-chan, right?! You and I should go out sometime! I'd protect you with my life!"

"Oh, for the love of.." Kiyomiko sighed, lowering her head and covering her ears just before Sakura shrieked, completely shutting the poor boy down before he even had a chance to say anything else.

"Eh?! N-nooooo way!" Sakura babbled, quickly and rather violently shaking her head as she backed away from Lee. By now, just about everyone in the corridor was staring and Kiyomiko moved to a quiet area near the wall as she waited for the theatrics to come to an end, her hands still covering her ears while her messy bangs mostly hid her eyes.

"Aww, why not?!" Lee pouted, looking crushed, almost as if someone had just kicked his puppy or something as he stood in front of Sakura. Naruto seemed like he wanted to laugh but at the same time, Kiyomiko could tell that the blonde boy felt for Lee, perfectly understanding how it felt to be shot down by Sakura.

"You're _way_ too... _unique_ for me!" Sakura explained, still hurriedly shaking her head as she tried to hide behind Sasuke and Lee seemed to understand, on some level. When Sakura was no longer screeching like a banshee, Kiyomiko lowered her arms from her ears and slipped her hands into her sleeves with a bored expression before she felt eyes on her and she paused. Lee was looking at _her_ now and Kiyomiko quirked a brow.

"_Yada_." Kiyomiko said a little too quickly, her voice perfectly flat and monotone as she ignored the slightly stunned expressions of her teammates, surprised by her rather unapproachable attitude, and a lamenting expression from Lee before she explained herself in a calm demeanor, as if she were explaining away the weather or something totally mundane. "You seem very sweet, Lee, but you wouldn't want to date me anyway. _Datte_.. I'm scary, after all."

"Eh..? Scary?" Lee blinked, seeming slightly taken aback as Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes lowered to the worn hardwood floors of the corridor, Naruto and Sakura quickly nodding at Lee some distance away, as if to confirm Kiyomiko's words before the girl in question stepped away from the wall, her hands still hidden in the flowing sleeves of her yukata as she turned to look at her teammates.

"I think that's just about enough playing around, children. We should be going." Kiyomiko sighed lightly, looking rather pointedly at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke before she turned and started walking towards the stairs at the end of the corridor, her teammates hurriedly following after the socially-detached girl.

"Oie, hang on a second." The boy with the Byakugan, Neji, called out to them and Kiyomiko paused, only slightly turning her head to glance over her shoulder at the boy with one eye while Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura turned fully. Neji was scowling at them, his arms folded across his chest as he looked down his nose, his chest puffed out almost like a chicken. "Identify yourselves."

"Isn't it a little rude to ask someone's name without offering your own first?" Sasuke replied calmly, ignoring the boy's sharpening glare as the crowd in the corridor seemed to disperse some, walking down the hall and seemingly taking Kiyomiko's lead by heading to the third floor. Kotetsu and Izumo had mysteriously disappeared during all of this and Lee walked up behind Neji with a girl standing a short distance away, which Kiyomiko assumed was another teammate.

"You're both rookies, aren't you? Fresh out of the Academy." Neji half-demanded, rather imperiously, as his eyes narrowed more on Kiyomiko and Sasuke rather than the whole team, which seemed to annoy Naruto to no end. She would have _gladly_ traded places with him in that moment. "What are your names?"

"What does it even matter?" Kiyomiko sighed lightly as she turned her back on Neji without a second glance, taking Naruto and Sakura by the hand as she started walking towards the stairs again.

"I don't see why we have to answer that." Suske scoffed slightly before he turned to follow after Kiyomiko, ending the conversation as the whole team walked up the stairs, disappearing from sight as they ascended to the third level of the school. Now all they had to do was get through the auditorium and go to the building next door and they would be home-free...

Kiyomiko released Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke walking behind the group as Kiyomiko led the way into the small, two-story auditorium, a balcony running along the back wall as polished wood floors gleamed in the mid-morning sunlight, a gentle breeze filtering through all of the open doorways, light pouring inside. Just as Team Seven had descended from the balcony and made it across the room to one of the open doors, the next building in sight, a familiar scent reached Kiyomiko's nose and she paused. The spicy scent of curry and herbs, mingled with the scent of lead from weights. Lee.

"Hey! Hold up a second!" Lee's voice confirmed it and Kiyomiko turned to look back, seeing Lee standing on the railing of the balcony as he looked _directly_ at Sasuke, who was following Kiyomiko's gaze before he paused, locking eyes with Lee.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked in his usual smug tone, folding his arms over his chest as Lee dropped from the balcony, landing in a practiced crouch before he stood up, fixing Sasuke with a determined stare.

"Would you fight me?" Lee asked, completely serious and Kiyomiko just sighed, dropping her head into her hands as she walked over towards a nearby wall, her geta clicking across the wood floor before she leaned against the wall, getting comfortable.

"Right now?" Sasuke asked with a quirked brow, as if he couldn't believe Lee's audacity and Sakura and Naruto seemed to be in much the same thought process as they openly gaped at Lee's challenge.

"Yeah, why not?" Lee asked calmly, holding one hand out to Sasuke in greeting. "My name is Rock Lee, and you're Uchiha Sasuke, right?"

"So, you knew?" Sasuke ignored Lee's hand and looked at the older boy with a stand-offish expression, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yes. I'd like to fight you, if possible. I want to see how my skills would hold up against the prodigy of the Uchiha Clan. Plus..." Lee paused and glanced at Sakura longingly. "I want Sakura-chan to remember me!"

This was just going to be another pointless battle and Kiyomiko rolled her eyes as she hid her arms in her sleeves, her pale silver gaze lowering to the floor in front of her as she waited, looking totally disinterested as the battle commenced. Even with Sasuke's newly-awakened Sharingan, he wouldn't be able to beat Lee, not as he was. Lee wasn't being totally upfront about his abilities and Kiyomiko already knew the outcome of the battle. And.. As usual.. Kiyomiko was proven right. Sasuke had not been prepared by just how fast Lee really was, even without removing the weights from his legs. He could _see_ Lee with his Sharingan but his body couldn't keep up to dodge any of Lee's attacks. Kiyomiko just waited, hearing Sakura and Naruto start to freak out before something caught her attention and she looked up just as Lee knocked Sasuke into the air. Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed slightly, watching as Lee appeared behind Sasuke and the bandages around his hands began loosening on their own. _This was bad. Sasuke wouldn't be able to withstand an attack of that magnitude and still be able to take the Exams_.

However, before Lee could complete the attack, a cheerfully-colored pinwheel flew through the air like a kunai or a senbon, skewering the ends of Lee's bandages and pinning them to the nearby wall. Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed sharply as she turned before she suddenly froze. Standing there, in all his glory, was.. a ninja turtle. Kiyomiko couldn't facepalm hard enough but Lee looked almost _terrified_ when he saw the summon, immediately withdrawing from the attack and landing in a crouch on the floor while Sakura panicked and ran in to catch the disoriented Sasuke before he fell. As soon as both boys were on the ground again, Kiyomiko forced herself to appear relaxed, her arms disappeared into her sleeves as she watched the scene playing out before her.

"That's enough, Lee! You know that technique is forbidden!" The summoned turtle scolded as Lee knelt in front of it almost as if he were begging while Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked on with shocked expressions. Kiyomiko just sighed and walked over to her teammates, her geta quietly clicking across the floor. The turtle may have been a summon but she was sure the summoner was somewhere _very_ close, watching, and she'd rather appear normal and be underestimated at the moment than appear as dangerous as she really was.

"But I wasn't really gunna do it! I swear!" Lee pleaded, sounding remarkably like a child trying to avoid punishment. Casting a sideways glance at Sasuke, Kiyomiko made sure that he was alright, and he would survive. He'd only recieved a few bumps and bruises, most of which were superficial, though the blow to his already over-inflated ego would probably take at least a few days to heal.

"_Ne, ne_.. That _is_ a turtle, right..?" Naruto asked, pointing at the turtle that was now thoroughly scolding Lee, the blonde boy looking perplexed as he looked back and forth between his teammates and the turtle.

"Isn't that obvious?!" Sakura snapped, though Kiyomiko could tell that the pink-haired girl was just as confused as Naruto, Sasuke included. _Honestly, does anyone in Konoha know anything?_

"How can a turtle become someone's sensei..?" Naruto asked dumbly, his head tilting like a curious puppy as Sasuke and Sakura got to their feet, dusting themselves off.

"It's not a sensei, it's a summon." Kiyomiko answered calmly as she turned and started to walk over towards Lee, who was now in tears in front of the turtle, though he paused and seemed to recover when he saw Kiyomiko approaching, her geta clicking primly across the floor. "Lee, I don't know what kind of attack that was but you shouldn't have risked exposing one of your techniques by showing off. Besides, Taijutsu or not, that attack would have used up too much energy all at once and you would have been too exhausted to take the Exams properly. Give me your hands."

"Eh..?" Lee blinked, looking up at Kiyomiko with wide, teary eyes as she lowered to one knee in front of him, taking one of his hands in hers before he could get away. She knew her teammates were gaping at her, apparently shocked by her actions but she paid them no mind as she carefully rewrapped Lee's bandages around his hands. "Y-you were worried about me?!"

"Don't look so surprised. I said that I wouldn't date you, not that I dislike you." Kiyomiko sighed softly as she carefully wrapped the bandages around Lee's fingers and hands, her touch light and gentle, her movements well-practiced as she kept her silvery gaze lowered, taking note of all the scars, callouses and barely healed bruises on his hands, reading them as if she were reading a book, like she did with weapons. She'd seen wounds like this before, _had_ wounds like this before, on her own hands when she was training in taijutsu as a young child and she remembered just how hard she had trained before her hands started to look like Lee's.. He must have been training just as hard. "You should take better care of yourself, _Baka_. You need to wrap your hands better before you go off and punch trees like an idiot."

Almost as soon as Kiyomiko finished bandaging Lee's hands, there was a small explosion from somewhere very close and Kiyomiko fought the conditioned recoil, only giving a small flinch instead as if she'd only been a little startled. Lee didn't notice it, instead he was looking towards the column of white smoke, the same as everyone else, except Kiyomiko as she stood in one fluid motion, her hands disappearing into her loose sleeves again. There, standing on the shell of the giant ninja turtle, was Guy in a rather extremely flambouyant pose as he grinned ear to ear. Kiyomiko didn't even _try_ to facepalm this time, instead trying to sneak away while he was busy making a scene and mildly reprimanding Lee. But.. Unfortunately.. It was far too late to run away.

"Hey kids! How's Kakashi?" Guy asked, through power-talking at Lee as he turned to look at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke with Kiyomiko suddenly standing behind them as if she were hiding. This guy was far too outrageous to be seen with, especially since she was in hiding.

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, quirking a brow as she seemed slightly uneasy looking up at the older version of Lee. Sasuke seemed visibly shaken that he'd nearly gotten defeated by a guy trained by someone so.. Obnoxious, while Naruto was busy snickering behind his hands about something or other.

"Know him?! Ha! You could call us "Eternal Rivals"!" Guy puffed out his chest and laughed loudly, causing Kiyomiko to slightly cringe at the memory of when she had seen Kakashi and Guy playing rock-paper-scissors in the Jonin-only Training Grounds. They were just so.. _weird_! "My record is forty-nine wins to fifty losses!"

"Notice how he counts the lesser number first and with slightly more enthusiasm, as if to overshadow the fact that he's lost more than he's won." Kiyomiko drawled lightly, so quietly that only her team could hear, however that sent Naruto into another fit of laughter while even Sakura and Sasuke started to snicker behind their hands. Guy seemed to pause his boasting as Kiyomiko tried to hush Naruto somewhat. "_Ne_, let's just go, okay?"

"Hm..? I remember you..! You were that little girl that fell from the tree!" Kiyomiko froze, a slight cringe touching her impish features as she looked up to see that Guy was pointing at her with a look of confusion. _As I thought. Thinking isn't his strong suit. Kakashi must not have told him everything_. "Or were you..? Hm.. Strange.. I don't remember seeing you on the graduation roster this year.. Are you one of Kakashi's students?"

"Last minute placement.." Kiyomiko laughed nervously as she gave a dismissive wave, Sakura and Sasuke looking between Kiyomiko and Guy as if they were confused now too. _Great_. It was bad enough just being _seen_ with him, now she was getting into all sorts of trouble because of his big mouth and slow memory! _Ugh_! "Anyway, we have to be going. The Exams will be starting soon!"

"Oh, hey! Wait up!" Lee called to her just as Kiyomiko managed to get outside, just out of range of her team while Guy unwittingly kept them distracted by what looked like posing and flexing. _Glad I missed that._ Kiyomiko turned to see Lee jogging up to her, his brows furrowed as a slight frown of concern formed on his face. "I wanted to warn you.. Just in case.."

"Just in case... what?" Kiyomiko asked, her head tilting a little as her pale silver eyes narrowed slightly. Lee came to a stop in front of her, his large black eyes staring intently at hers, his frown deepening somewhat as if he were trying to think of how to word something properly while he was trying to study her at the same time.

"My teammate.. Neji, the boy you met earlier.. He seems to think that you may have some kind of occular abilities because your eyes look like his." Lee explained, his voice lowered so only Kiyomiko could hear him over Guy's boasting and bragging behind him. Kiyomiko froze, all traces of emotion disappearing from her face as she tensed, her eyes locked on Lee in an unwavering silvery stare. "I won't ask if you do have any occular abilities or not.. But I thought you should know that Neji's taken an interest in you. He's my teammate but dangerous, Kiyo-chan. Be careful.."

"Thank you.. I appreciate the head's up." Kiyomiko answered, keeping her tone as calm as possible even while her hands were balling into tight fists, hidden within the flowing sleeves of her yukata. This was bad. Not only had Gaara taken an interest in her but now Neji. This was very quickly becoming dangerous. If two _candidates_ had taken an interest in her, then who else had? The Daimyos? Nobles..? No, she needed to do something about this before it got too out of hand. "Lee, do you think that you could do me a favor?"

"Eh..?" Lee blinked, seeming a little surprised before he nodded once. "Of course. Anything."

"Tell him that it's just a rumor." Kiyomiko whispered quickly as her teammates walked up behind Lee, apparently tired of speaking with Guy and looking a little exhausted by it. Lee glanced over his shoulder and nodded once before Guy came up behind him with a dopey smile, watching as Kiyomiko turned on one heel and left with her teammates, her geta clicking primly across the concrete as she walked towards the next building, where the Exams would take place.

After they were out of sight, Kiyomiko let out the breath she'd been holding as her hands disappeared into her sleeves, unconciously clutching her fan with one hand and a kunai with another, almost for some form of comfort as she walked behind Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. A deep chill began to form within her, slowly spreading through her as her silvery gaze lowered to the path ahead of her feet, not listening to the conversations of her teammates as she just followed them automatically. Too many people were expressing an interest in her and she could only imagine who else was curious about the little girl who mysteriously showed up in Konoha one day, graduating from the Academy within one week and suspiciously lacking any records or family.. This.. was getting troublesome again.

-(o.o)-

Ten minutes later, Kiyomiko was standing in the girl's bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror with a gaze of feigned calm. She had decided, on rather short notice, to change her clothes and hauled Sakura into the restroom with her while Naruto and Sasuke waited outside. Kiyomiko was now wearing loose charcoal grey shorts with black pinstripes that ended just below her knees, a charcoal grey sleeveless shirt with a high cowl that covered her neck, charcoal grey fingerless gloves and ankle-high zip up shinobi sandals, her long black hair yanked back into a rather messy ponytail that made her look like a boy while her forehead protector was tied around her waist like a sash, clean bandages covering her legs, arms and neck like a mummy. It was quite a change and Sakura seemed a little surprised, glancing at Kiyomiko out of the corner of her eye as she packed Kiyomiko's white yukata into her knapsack before passing the black canvas bag back to the girl. Kiyomiko frowned at her appearance in the mirror before she accepted the knapsack, swinging it onto her back before she turned and followed Sakura out of the restroom. She looked like a respectable ninja now, sure, but it still wasn't enough to hide her true identity.

After the boys had recovered from their initial surprise, Team Seven made their way towards the classroom where the Exams were taking place and they arrived with five minutes to spare. As they walked down the long corridor, Kiyomiko saw Kakashi leaning up against one of the walls near the door, reading one of his usual novels until he heard his team arrive and he snapped the book closed, slipping it into a pouch on his belt as he turned to look at his students with almost appraising eyes. He was quiet for a moment, looking at each of them in turn before he nodded, folding his arms across his chest as if he deemed them acceptable. Kiyomiko just looked up at him for a moment before something seemed to click in her mind.

"Kakashi! Come here for a second, I need a favor!" Kiyomiko jumped over towards the silver-haired Jonin and grabbed his hand, taking him and the rest of her team by surprise when she led him away with a not-so-gentle tug.

"Eh..?!" Kakashi blinked as he was led away, out of earshot from her teammates by the usually quiet Kiyomiko, only to stop when they were a safe enough distance away. Kiyomiko released Kakashi's hand, her back still turned to him as her posture slightly tense. "Kiyomiko? Is something wrong?"

"Do you have a spare mask with you..?" Kiyomiko asked, her tone wavering slightly as she looked at the floor in front of her, the tips of her ears almost turning pink from the blush that was spreading across her face. This was _absolutely_ humiliating and utterly demeaning but.. It was the only plausible plan.

"Yeah, I do.. Why?" Kakashi answered, thoroughly confused by her question, but he pulled a spare mask from one of the many pockets of his vest nonetheless, holding it out to her. Kiyomiko snatched it from his fingers with near lightning-fast reflexes, avoiding his gaze completely as the man quirked a brow.

"You already know a little bit of my history, Kakashi." Kiyomiko began, yanking the mask over her head and tugging the fabric into place to cover the lower half of her face, just like Kakashi's, smoothing her messy bangs over her forehead to cover more of her face and a little bit of her eyes before she turned to look up at the Jonin with a hard gaze, her arms folded across her chest. "It would be a pain in the ass for everyone is I was recognized here but don't tell anyone that. I'd rather everyone else thought that I idolized you than know the truth. Just don't get used to this."

"Alright, alright." Kakashi chuckled slightly, ruffling Kiyomiko's hair as the two of them turned and walked back towards Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. Kiyomiko matched his pace and his movements as they walked, almost as if she were a smaller version of him and that seemed to amuse him greatly, much to Kiyomiko's chagrin. "You look so cute like that."

"Kiyo-chan..?!" Sakura gaped, her glittering green eyes wide as Kiyomiko returned, standing beside her teammates with her arms folded across her chest, a scowl hidden beneath her mask. Naruto just blinked for a moment before his head tilted slightly and he shrugged, accepting it, however Sasuke was about to open his big mouth before Kiyomiko glared, raising a fist.

"Oh, I _dare_ you to say something, Uchiha!"

"Let's just go already." Sasuke sighed, an eyebrow twitching slightly as he turned and opened the double doors in front of him. For a moment, Kakashi watched as the four Genin walked into the large room, filled with so many unfamiliar and foreign shinobi and he paused when Kiyomiko looked back at him over her shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw the slightly worried look in her eyes but she averted her gaze to the floor as the heavy doors closed behind her. No.. She would be fine. Whatever happened.. She would be fine.. She just had to keep telling herself that.

Almost as soon as she'd found her resolution again, Kiyomiko erased all signs of her presence, her heartbeat, breathing and footsteps softened to silence as she stayed behind the rest of her team, moving as quietly as a shadow. There was a strong possibility that someone she knew was here.. Or worse yet, someone who knew _her_ and wanted revenge for something. She hadn't exactly made a lot of friends while she'd been travelling on her own.

"Oie, oie.. You guys are here too?" A familiar voice drawled and Kiyomiko looked over to see Shikamaru shuffling over towards them, Ino and Chouji following behind while Kiba's ears perked and he turned, a smile appearing on his face before he nudged Shino and Hinata, gesturing towards her before they walked over too. "Wait, is that Kiyo-chan..? Why are you weari-"

"Oh, _hey_ Shikamaru-kun!" Sakura hurriedly cut him off with a nervous laugh, causing the boy to quirk a brow before he just sighed, shaking his head when Ino and Sakura started to bicker back and forth about Sasuke, as usual. Kiyomiko was glad for the distraction and soon the group was joined by Lee, Neji and Tenten, though they said nothing as they stood a short distance away.

More and more people that Kiyomiko recognized walked over to form a little group and they all chatted happily, completely oblivious to the growing tension in the room and Kiyomiko just stayed back a short ways, keeping an eye on her friends while she scanned the faces in the room as inadvertantly as possible, her pale silver eyes almost catlike, hidden beneath her messy bangs as she leaned up against a space of nearby wall, her arms folded across her chest. She could see people from almost every village, even Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were there, sitting near the door on the opposite side of the room, all of them looking back at her, though they looked away when they noticed she was looking at them._ Hm.. Odd_.

"Hey, you guys should probably keep it down.. You're annoying a lot of the other candidates." An unfamiliar voice spoke up over the chatter and Kiyomiko looked over to see a young man, about nineteen or twenty, with round black glasses and silver hair pulled back into a simply ponytail, wearing a loose-fitting outfit made up of dark purple pants, a light cream-colored shirt with a baggy dark purple short-sleeved shirt over it, a cream-colored sash around his waist. He was from Konoha, he wore the forehead protector over his brow, and he _seemed_ friendly enough but something about his eyes made her nervous. _Appearances can be decieving, ne Haku_? "Wait a second, aren't you kids the famous Rookie Ten, fresh from the Academy..?"

"And if we are?" Sasuke asked, casting a sideways glance at the silver-haired guy with a quiet suspicion. It seemed like Kiyomiko wasn't the only one to notice that something about this guy was off, however she doubted that Sasuke could sense what she was feeling.. She didn't quite understand it, but there was something about this guy's friendly demeanor that seemed faked, although it was faked almost _startlingly_ well.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Yakushi Kabuto, but nevermind that. Take a look around you." Kabuto smiled a little awkwardly as he gestured around the room and everyone looked, seeing the angry glares of all of the foreign shinobi in the room before Kabuto continued in a slightly hushed voice. "Those guys behind me are from the Hidden Sound Village. They're new here but they seem to have short tempers, so you may wanna quiet down a little."

"Can't be as short as Sakura-chan's or Kiyo-chan's.." Naruto mumbled with a shudder and, as if to prove his point, Sakura knocked the boy over the head with an indignant squawk, but the damage was already done. Kabuto was already looking through the crowd with an expression of mild interest before his dark eyes landed on Kiyomiko, standing behind everyone else as if she weren't even there.

"Ah, you must be Kiyomiko! It's a pleasure to meet you." Kabuto gave her a friendly smile as he made his way over towards Kiyomiko, holding out his hand as if he wanted to shake hers. "I'm afraid I haven't heard much about you, aside from a few rumors. Why is it that you were called the Ice Princess of Konoha Academy? Oh, and is it true that you're an orphan from outside the village?"

"Touch me and I'll stab you in the face before you can blink." Kiyomiko said calmly, her voice perfectly level and monotone as if she was discussing the most mundane thing in the world even though she was threatening the man's life, her emotionless eyes locked on his in an unwavering silver stare. For a split second, Kabuto hesitated as he looked at her and Kiyomiko could almost see his mind working, like he was calculating how to respond even while Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba appeared around her with equally annoyed glares at the silver-haired man. She was mildly surprised that the three boys would come to her aid so quickly, seemingly trying to protect her, but she didn't let that change her frigid demeanor. "Try not to take it too personally, Kabuto-kun. I just don't like being touched by people I don't trust."

"Eheheh.. It would seem that the rumors about your temper are true, _Hime-sama_.." Kabuto chuckled nervously, managing an awkward smile as he reached up and rubbed the back of his head, holding one hand up in surrender as he back up a few steps. Ino and Sakura seemed shocked by the reactions of Shikamaru, Naruto and Kiba, even moreso when Sasuke, Shino and even the good-natured Chouji seemed tense. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to be impolite. I'm afraid that my overly-inquisitive nature just got the better of me. I meant no harm, truely."

"Whatever. Just forget it." Kiyomiko sighed slightly, giving the man a dismissive wave with one hand as she took a step away from the wall and all of the boys seemed to relax somewhat, though Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba seemed to stay close to Kiyomiko and she almost smiled at that. They were being a little transparent but she had to admit that she found their reactions kinda cute and after a few minutes had passed, everything seemed to go back to as normal as things could be given the circumstances.

"So, Kabuto-san, is this your second time taking the Chunin Exams?" Sakura asked, looking up at the young man with a curious smile, probably trying to take away some of the tension from the situation and gain some information in the process. Kiyomiko had to admit, that was pretty smart. After all, Kabuto had been attempting to get information on them to begin with. May as well turn the tables on him, using the deceptively innocent-looking Sakura as the catalyst.

"Uh.. No, actually. This is my seventh time." Kabuto admitted with an awkward chuckle and a slightly sheepish smile, turning to look down at Sakura.

"You must know a lot about the Exams then." Sasuke spoke up, seemingly getting the same idea as Kiyomiko as he folded his arms across his chest. Kabuto blinked for a moment, turning to look at Sasuke before he nodded, a puzzled expression on his face before Sasuke continued. "What about the other candidates?"

"Is there someone in particular that interests you?" Kabuto asked, his head tilted slightly as he reached back into the small beige pouch on his belt, removing what looked like a deck of playing cards.

"Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee." Sasuke answered calmly and Kabuto nodded, kneeling down on the tile floor as he set the cards in front of him while all of the Konoha Rookies, except Kiyomiko, crowded around to watch.

Kiyomiko stood back a short distance, one hand reached up to smooth her messy bangs down around her pale silver eyes before she paused, feeling someone looking at her. It was Gaara again, only this time Temari and Kankuro didn't seem to notice that he was looking at her. He really did have pretty eyes, though there was a flicker of what she could only assume was curiousity or puzzlement in his gaze as he cast her a sidelong glance, as if he were studying her or evaluating her, though not in a malicious way, which was mildly surprising given the rumors she'd heard about him. No, it seemed that he was more curious as to why she was wearing a mask and why she had absolutely no visible weapons on her. Kiyomiko returned his gaze and she smiled beneath her borrowed mask, the corners of her eyes crinkling as proof of her genuine smile towards the boy and he blinked for a moment before he quickly looked away. _Oh? So, Gaara's a little socially awkward, hm? Interesting_.

"Whoa, is there any information here that you _don't_ have?" Ino's voice drew Kiyomiko's attention away from Gaara and she turned to look down at the skinny blonde to find her gaping at Kabuto's cards and Kiyomiko quirked a brow, seeing the rows of cards lined up, each one revealing a face of what she could only assume were the candidates, plus a little information about their abilities. There was hers, her name was printed at the top, but there was no information on it at all, not even a picture and Kiyomiko had to admit a slight satisfaction at that.

"As a matter of fact.." Kabuto spoke up with a friendly smile as he glanced up at Kiyomiko before he turned to look at Ino. "There is only one candidate here that I have absolutely _no_ data on, currently. Nothing about abilities, specializations, known techniques.. I haven't even been able to find _birth records_ for this person."

"Eh? Who?" Ino asked quizzically, her head tilting slightly as she looked at Kabuto. The man's smile widened ever so slightly and all of a sudden, Kiyomiko understood. He was still trying to get information on her and from what he'd just said, he'd been trying for quite a while.

"Your classmate, Kiyomiko."

"Eh?! Little Kiyo-chii?!" Ino's bright blue eyes widened for a second and Kabuto nodded, the girl looking genuinely shocked for a few seconds before she suddenly burst out laughing, seemingly startling Kabuto when tears appeared in her eyes. "O-oh! You could just ask Shikamaru, Chouji or even _Kiba_ about her! She's practically all they ever talk about when they get together! Do you think Kiyo-chan would like shogi? Do you think Kiyo-chan would want to go get barbeque? Do you think Kiyo-chan would come fishing with us tod-"

"Ino-chan.." Kiyomiko's voice was quiet and calm, the traces of a smile in her tone as a dark and ominous shadow appeared behind Ino, pale silver eyes shining out of pure darkness as Kiyomiko stood behind the girl, arms folded across her chest with a totally relaxed posture. Ino slowly turned to look up at Kiyomiko over her shoulder with a forced smile, looking more than a little terrified as Kabuto's eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline at the sight. Ino was pale, her voice wavering and all of the Konoha Rookies had gone totally silent for the first time since their arrival, while only Naruto seemed immune to the effects of Kiyomiko's intimidation, the boy calmly looking over Kabuto's cards. "Please stop giving the man information about me.. _Ne_?"

"_H-hai_, Kiyo-chii.." Ino nodded quickly and Kiyomiko's head tilted to the side once as a form of acceptance before she turned and walked away again, hearing Ino's nervous laughter as she recovered.

Kiyomiko could feel Kabuto's gaze on her and she sighed inwardly, wishing the man would just leave her alone but she supposed that this was the price she had to pay for not forging fake documents. If she didn't have to worry about her teammates so much, she might have actually considered dropping out of the Chunin Exams altogether.. But no, in order for any one of them to become a Chunin, the whold team was needed. She knew that. Ah.. But she was so exhausted already and she hadn't even taken the first test yet! And things were only going to get worse from here. All of a sudden, Kiyomiko saw Naruto jump up, his hands clenched into trembling fists as a determined grin appeared on his face. Immediately, Kiyomiko got a sinking feeling. _Oh, no.._.

"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!" Naruto's shout rang through the entire room as the boy jumped up to where everyone could see him, all eyes turning to look at him with varying expressions of annoyance and irritation while all of the Konoha Rookies looked shocked and aghast. "MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO, AND I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE TO ANY OF YOU!"

"_Aho!_" Kiyomiko hissed, reacting faster than anyone else could have as she appeared behind the boy and knocked him over the head, successfully silencing the boy before he could say anything else while Sakura hurriedly explained to the crowd that Naruto was an idiot and quite possibly brain-damaged. That didn't seem to help matters.

"Are you _trying_ to get us all killed?!" Ino cried, looking alarmed as Kiyomiko dragged Naruto backwards towards the far wall and out of range while both Ino and Sakura started to rant and rave.

"Great, now everyone is going to target us.." Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, walking over to towards the back wall where the rest of the Rookies were gathering. He seemed rather calm despite the onslaught of angry glares they were recieving.

As soon as Kiyomiko released Naruto, a strange thrill travelled down her spine and she paused for a moment, feeling a familiar sensation, the air changing at her back, an impending attack and her pale silver eyes widened slightly before her body just reacted on it's own with no thought put into her own movements. Time seemed to slow and all of a sudden, Kiyomiko was standing in front of a tall male figure, her arms held out wide to protect him as she faced one of the Sound Ninja as he lunged in towards her, already mid-attack and too far to stop. In that second, a metal-covered arm shot passed her head, narrowly missing her cheek by a fraction of an inch but Kiyomiko didn't flinch even when she felt the waves of sound wash over her like a sudden dizziness, nearly making her ill but she didn't move a muscle and that seemed to surprise the older boy somewhat. For a moment, everything was totally silent and no one moved, Konoha shinobi or foreign alike, all eyes staring at the scene before them, the older boy's metal-covered arm still hovering next to Kiyomiko's face as he towered over her. In that moment, Kiyomiko's attitude completely changed. In her attempt to remain strong and hide the illness she was feeling, Kiyomiko turned into her father, her tone and mannerisms matching his perfectly.

"I understand that you're getting _anxious_ with all of these strong fighters around.." Kiyomiko began, her voice betraying some manner of strange and twisted amusement, almost arrogance as she allowed her killing intent to rise to levels just slightly beyond that of a Genin, one hand reaching up to grasp the boy's metal-covered arm in a steady grip, preventing him from getting away. He froze when her pale silver eyes locked on his, the outer edges of her irises darkening like ominous stormclouds as a very distinct chill formed around her. She'd taken his attack head-on and she was _pissed_, but the corners of her eyes crinkled with a chilling smile she usually reserved for unnerving her opponents. "However.. You should save your energy for when the games _really_ start, _ne_?... The next time you try to attack someone's back before the Exams even begin.. _I'll take your arm_."

With that, Kiyomiko released the boy's arm and smiled beneath her borrowed mask as if nothing was wrong, as if no one was staring at her, and her heightened killing intent vanished like smoke on a breeze as everything went back to normal. Her totally relaxed posture transitioned into one of complete boredom as she folded her arms across her chest and turned her back on the older boy, looking to see who it was that she had protected. _Of-fucking-course_... It was Kabuto, gazing back at her with wide eyes filled with traces of surprise and confusion but before he could open his mouth to speak, a door opened somewhere nearby and a man's deep voice rose over the heads of the candidates. For now, Kiyomiko was safe and so began the first test of the Chunin Exams.

-(o.o)-

_A six year old Kiyomiko wandered down the identical stone corridors of her underground world with an absent-minded smile, her bare feet silent across the floor as she smoothed her perfectly white yukata with her tiny hands, her long black hair loose down her back and swaying with her movements as she hummed a nonsensical tune. It had been three years since Kiyomiko had begun training with her father and since then she had already achieved a startling level of mastery over taijutsu, she could successfully use any weapon she layed hands on and her ninjutsu training was going remarkably well. However.. She missed her father. _

_He had been absent from the underground compound lately, away on business and often gone for weeks on end, leaving her alone with a wretched man of a caretaker and Kiyomiko's youthful face scrunched into a sour expression at the mere thought. He was always respectful and almost charming towards her father but as soon as they were left alone, he revealed his true colors. He was callous and mean, foul-tempered and downright nasty and Kiyomiko hated the man but she couldn't kill him because her father had told her not to. She had to listen to her father.. After all, she had already killed three of her previous caretakers and her father would be upset if she killed another._

_Feh._

_Kiyomiko pouted slightly as she hid her arms in the oversized sleeves of her yukata, her little rounded cheeks puffed out slightly as she walked towards her room, which was now across the hall from her father's. She hadn't been blind to the system her father was using, rewarding her for doing well with her training by giving her better accommodations, better clothes, better food, but she didn't mind it. As long as she was useful to her father, she was happy. Just as she rounded the corner and started to walk down the hall towards her room, she paused, seeing the door to her father's room open, the light of a candle flickering through the open doorway and Kiyomiko's face broke out into a smile. She was just about to run towards the door before she paused mid-step, her little foot still raised as she stared at the open doorway. She knew that the door was always locked when her father was away and she could hear the shuffling of paper, hurried breathing and a racing heartbeat that didn't belong to her father. No, it wasn't her father in the room, it was her caretaker._

_"What are you doing?" Kiyomiko asked as she appeared just outside the threshold to her father's room, finding it tedious and irritating to speak as she glared up at her caretaker. The tall man whirled, eyes wide as if he'd been startled before he seemed to relax somewhat, his face twisting into it's usual sneer when he realized that she was the one who'd spoken._

_"None of your business, brat." The man spat, turning back to her father's desk as he started to shuffle through papers and scrolls, almost as if he was searching for something, cursing under his breath every so often before he paused, realizing that Kiyomiko was still standing there staring at him. "Go play with your toys or something, kid! I don't have time to waste on you."_

_"Who paid you to go through my father's things?" Kiyomiko asked flatly, as if she'd known all along and the man froze, still holding up some papers as his eyes trailed to the little girl in the doorway, looking up at him with a perfectly calm expression. All of a sudden, the man dropped the papers on the desk and crossed the room in three short strides, grabbing Kiyomiko by the throat and lifting her up to the level of his eyes, his expression one of rage but also something else, something in his eyes that Kiyomiko had seen many times. Fear._

_"Now you listen to me, brat! If you say anything to your father about this, I'll tell him that you've been slacking off on your training while he's away!" The man shouted, roughly shoving her back against the door as his grip on her trembled but her expression never changed. It was only pain, after all. It wasn't like her life was in danger, the the man's expression flickered with some form of triumph, as if he thought he'd won some game. "Yeah, that's right! I know how hard you've been training every night and how angry he'd be if he thought you'd been getting lazy! I remember what happened to that other little brat, the one before you came along! Anko! Besides, you can't kill me, remember?!"_

_"Maybe I can't kill you.. but there are ways around that." Kiyomiko answered, her voice quiet and calm despite being roughly gripped by the throat as she locked eyes with her caretaker. She must have seemed so small compared to him, so fragile as she dangled from his grasp, her body limp as she hung two feet off the floor... but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. "I know a way to stop you from ever becoming a problem again.. I can always make you wish you were dead."_

_A second passed before the man's grip on her throat loosened, his arm lowering her to the floor as he gradually lost his strength, her eyes locked on his and he was unable to look away, his heartbeat pounding loud in her ears as he set her on her feet. As soon as she was standing on her own again, the man's eyes rolled back and he collapsed into a crumpled heap on the stone floor, twitching and thrashing as if he were trying to run and hide, trapped in the throes of Kiyomiko's genjutsu. Father wouldn't be mad at her. The man was alive and physically unharmed, after all, and father never said anything about psychological harm. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko turned and walked over to her father's desk, neatly organizing the papers and scrolls on the desktop, ignoring the ache that had begun to form around her throat. She would have a bruise for the next few days but father wouldn't see it, he wouldn't be home for another few days at least, so it should be fine._

_"Kiyomiko." Her hands froze, holding the scroll she'd been in the process of rolling up before she turned to see her father standing in the doorway, watching her with that half-smile he always had when he was content. His golden gaze lingered on her small form, looking at the forming bruises on her neck for a moment, before he looked down at the thrashing, sobbing, whimpering mess of a man at his feet. Kiyomiko set down the scroll and turned to face her father, her bare feet silent as she padded across the cold stone floor, standing a few feet away as she looked up at the slim form of her father with an even gaze. _

_Everything was quiet for a moment before Kiyomiko heard a faint hiss and she looked down to see a large white snake slither out from under her father's bed, it's movements calm and calculated as it wound around the man on the floor. It had been there the whole time. Of course. Her father must have already known that the man had been sent to rummage through his things and he'd been waiting for an opportune time to kill him. Kiyomiko didn't even flinch or wince when the snake's fangs sunk into the man's throat, poison seeping into his body while blood flowed out across the floor, instead she gathered up the skirt of her pure white yukata, making sure it wouldn't get stained even as the puddle of cooling blood pooled outwards around her feet._

_"Come, child. It is time to take the next step toward completing your training." Her father said as he turned and walked into the hall, knowing that she was following right behind him, just as she always did. Kiyomiko walked after her father, through the identical stone corridors lit by evenly-spaced torches that never seemed to burn out, her bare feet reading every crack and scratch in the stone floors as if she were reading a map. "We will be travelling together, moving to a new home where I can better watch over your training."_

_"Hai, Chichiue." Kiyomiko said obediently as she followed after the shadowy figure of her father through an unfamiliar corridor, one she had never been led down before, and up a steep stone staircase where a door stood waiting. Her father paused just long enough to open the door and light poured into the darkness that had made up Kiyomiko's world for so long, blinding her so suddenly that she clutched at her father's sleeve, almost hiding behind it. He walked forward, though at a slower pace while he waited for her eyes to adjust, and Kiyomiko followed, glancing down at her feet to see that she was stepping on some kind of plant. It was a vibrant shade of green the likes of which she had never seen before. Grass..? How long had it been since she had last seen it? Yes, it was grass, she knew it now._

_The world around her was so loud and she frowned slightly as she looked around, colors so bright that they nearly blinded her, the hot sun shining down from high in the azure sky. Grass, trees, flowers, mountains, wind.. It all came rushing back to her as she took in her surroundings. Almost hesitantly, Kiyomiko left the safety of her father's side and wandered ahead, making sure that she never strayed too far ahead as she looked around, taking it all in. It had been so long since she had been outside that she had nearly forgotten about the world above, outside of the comfortable darkness and shadows of her underground world. The world around her seemed far too vast in comparison and somewhere deep inside, she was a little frightened by it but she would never tell her father that. That would only disappoint him._

_Kiyomiko paused for a moment when her foot landed in a puddle of water and she looked down at her reflection for a moment. It was a little startling. She'd never seen her own reflection so clearly before. Her skin was pale white, completely devoid of any other color, her face was rounded, her cheeks almost cherubic with youth, her lips pouty and full, her brow soft and gentle. Her long black hair, darker than the deepest shadows of night, contrasted her pure white skin and her eyes were a startling shade of red, a shade of crimson she could scarce describe, three perfectly black tomoe formed in each eye. She was surprised by how she looked in the sunlight and she reached down to the puddle with one hand, the dip of her index finger disturbing the surface of the water, causing ripples to distort the image and she blinked. When the ripples faded, Kiyomiko fought back a soft gasp. Her eyes had changed! Instead of the beautiful red she had seen a second ago, her large eyes were now a pale silver like a clean mirror, no pupil at all._

_"Chichiue.. Why do my eyes change color?" Kiyomiko asked, watching the reflection in the water as her father walked up behind her, gazing down at the puddle with her. She frowned slightly, the only sign betraying her worry and he chuckled slightly, resting a hand on her head, almost as if to reassure her._

_"Because I made you that way, child." Her father answered with a half-smile, looking at her through the reflection of the water before a gentle breeze swept through the flower-speckled valley they stood in, the wind disturbing the surface of the water and causing more ripples to distort their images. "You have the gift of Sharingan, Heaven's Eyes. You are able to use your eyes to see the world with a greater detail than even I am capable of seeing. Have you not noticed how easy it is to mimic the movements of others? How easy it is to memorize the new jutsus and techniques that I teach you? Not everyone is so gifted, child. I envy you. You are blessed and when you grow older and stronger, your eyes will be an invaluable treasure to me. Now come along, Kiyomiko. In order to better serve me, you must train."_

_"Hai, Chichiue." Kiyomiko nodded once and stood upright, turning away from her reflection as she followed after her father in silence, exactly five paces behind and one to the left, her small feet leaving no footprints behind, exactly as she had been taught._

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko sat on the lowest branch of a small tree on a grassy hill, overlooking the twenty-foot-high chainlink fence that surrounded the Forest of Death, warnings and Do Not Enter signs littering the fencing every few feet. Aside from the theatrics beforehand, the First Exam had gone remarkably well. Kiyomiko had already known all of the answers on the written test, so she hadn't needed to waste any time gathering the necessary information, which had been the whole point of the test in the first place. There had been a few scares, most of them involving Naruto, but everything worked out in the end. However... That's not why she was so tense now. A barely-audible growl rumbled through her as she squeezed a thin branch so hard that it cracked from the pressure, the only sign of her growing unease as she looked down at the proctor for this exam. Mitarashi Anko.. A tomboyish woman with dark hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, shadowed lavender eyes, a heart-shaped face and a snake-like smile. She had locked eyes with the woman once, earlier in the day, and the woman had winced like she'd been in pain. The way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she looked at the world around her.. _It's too close to be coincidence_..

"Oiiiee! Kiyo-chan!" Naruto's voice pulled Kiyomiko out of her thoughts and she turned to see the hyperactive blonde boy running towards her tree, waving one hand over his head while Sakura and Sasuke walked behind him with matching expressions of exhaustion. Kiyomiko knew she was being watched now, not just by Anko but by Gaara and Kabuto, as well as any others who had been interested in her little moodswing earlier, which seemed to have been just about everyone, but she pretended like she didn't notice, didn't care, and she sighed as she let herself slip from the branch, hanging upside-down from her knees, her eyes level with Naruto's as the boy came to a stop. "We're supposed to go and turn in our consent forms and get our scroll now! Come on, I don't wanna be late!"

"_Hai, hai_.." Kiyomiko drawled in a disinterested tone as she let herself drop from the branch, landing on her hands before she twisted her flexible body to stand upright in one fluid motion, smoothing her bangs down around her eyes again as the team walked towards the wooden stall shrouded in heavy curtains. Handing in the consent forms, the Examiner handed them a scroll with the symbol for Heaven on the bindings and it was decided that Kiyomiko should carry it because she was the fastest on the team. Slipping the scroll into the hidden pocket in her black canvas knapsack, Kiyomiko securely fastened the third strap around her torso before the four Genin left the wooden stall.

The sun was ridiculously bright that day, small fluffy white clouds dotting the azure sky and Kiyomiko looked up, shielding her eyes with one bandaged hand, a frown gracing her impish features as she walked between her teammates. Something had her uneasy.. Not just Anko or Kabuto, she'd been uneasy before that, ever since she'd left Kakashi. Something felt _wrong_ but she couldn't put her finger on it and it was irritating her to no end, driving her mad like a scent just strong enough that you _know_ it's there but you don't know what it is. _Like prey that knows it's being hunted_. Another barely-audible growl rumbled through her, drown out by the sound of Naruto's babbling but Sasuke seemed to have heard it and he quirked a brow but the Chunin Examiners began calling out to the different teams and it was quickly forgotten. Luckily.

The different teams began to split up, falling in line beside the Examiners and Kiyomiko was just about to follow after her team when she saw Anko walking nearby. They would pass each other at this rate and Kiyomiko's frown deepened slightly, hidden beneath her borrowed mask. She didn't know if this was the right person, she didn't know if what she'd heard her caretaker say had even been the truth or not but.. She needed to warn _someone_, needed to do _something_ just in case her suspicions were later confirmed. As Kiyomiko followed her team, she slowed her pace somewhat and Anko took notice, slowing her pace as well, mostly out of curiousity but Kiyomiko could sense some unease from her too, and Kiyomiko kept her silvery gaze lowered to the grass in front of her feet as she walked. Soon, the scent of dango and tea reached her nose and her gaze flicked up for an instant as she passed Anko.

"_Be careful, Anko-aneue_." Kiyomiko's voice was barely a whisper but she knew that Anko had heard her, the woman froze in her tracks, her lavender eyes wide as she watched Kiyomiko approach, her silvery gaze deadly serious before time seemed to resume normally again and she lowered her eyes to the grass in front of her once again, following after her team as calmly as if she hadn't said anything at all. Kiyomiko never looked back, she'd bitten down on the inside of her lower lip to keep herself from saying more, just in case Anko _wasn't_ the right person.. She hoped the woman would understand the message, despite it's vague and cryptic nature, but she didn't have any more time to worry about it. She needed to focus on the task at hand, going into the Forest of Death with the rest of her team and making sure they all made it out alive.

Their Chunin Examiner led the team towards a gate not far from where Kiyomiko had entered the Forest of Death three months ago. The river was just a half-mile away and the cave hidden behind the waterfall was just a mile beyond that. The team lined up in front of the old and rusty gate with a strange sort of tense calm, if that made any sense, like warriors preparing for the battle ahead, the calm before the storm and Kiyomiko was perfectly silent as she stood in front of her team with a cold and detached expression as she looked at the gate as if it were an opponent. At exactly two-thirty in the afternoon, the gates ahead opened wide and Team Seven ran inside, wasting no time before they took to the trees, leaves and branches blurring passed as Kiyomiko led the way, kunai in one hand and fan in the other. Not even five minutes had passed before Kiyomiko tensed and came to a sudden stop on a branch, Sasuke and Sakura stopping beside her while she reached out and grabbed Naruto, stopping him before he kept going. There was a few seconds of silence before a set of three screams pierced the tense quiet of the forest, echoing in unison before there was a sudden indeterminable, oppressive silence that only meant one thing. Death.

"It's started, then." Kiyomiko said quietly, her pale silver eyes darkening a shade as she turned to look at her team. She could see the unease of her teammates, she could hear their heartbeats racing as if they were her own, though she knew they were determined to make it through this test alive and she would do her best to ensure that. They were _her team_, after all. "Things are only going to get harder from here on out, so keep your guard up."

"Kiyo-chan, you're sure starting to sound like Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned stupidly, snickering behind his hands and not noticing the sharp glare he was recieving. "It's bad enough that you're wearing a mask to look like him! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to be him!"

"Come to think of it, I still owe you a punch for raising your hand during the First Exam!" Kiyomiko said in a sugary-sweet tone as she raised a bandaged fist and Naruto's snickers turned into coughs almost right away before he fell silent with a nervous laugh, babbling on about how he'd been joking before Kiyomiko silenced him with a dismissive wave, turning back to look at Sasuke and Sakura as well. "Come on. It's not safe to stay in the trees anymore. It may be faster but it's too obvious. It would be safer to walk on the ground."

Her teammates nodded in agreement and Kiyomiko took a step off of the high branch, landing in the dense forest underbrush with a silent roll, followed by Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, and then they started to make their way towards the tower again. They walked in relative silence, only broken by Naruto's bantering or Sakura's complaints while Kiyomiko tuned them out and listened to the sounds of the forest around them, sensing out anything abnormal. She knew this area, after all, after having lived here for a few days, she'd scouted out the area rather thoroughly before she'd found the cave. With a light sigh, Kiyomiko stretched her arms upwards and knit her fingers together behind her head, her pale silver eyes scanning the forest around her. They walked like that for nearly an hour, navigating through the harsh and wild forest terrain before Naruto suddenly hopped over to the nearest bush, rather tactlessly declaring that he had to pee.

"_Chotto_! What do you think you're doing in front of two ladies?!" Sakura cried, jumping up behind Naruto and landing a sharp blow to the side of his head, the boy giving a muffled yelp while Kiyomiko just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"_Gomen, gomen!_" Naruto whined, rubbing the growing lump on the side of his head as he hurried behind some trees, Sakura glowering at his retreating back. This was _really_ getting old.

"Sakura, it would have been better if we'd stayed together." Kiyomiko drawled with a light sigh, ignoring the reproachful glare that the pink-haired girl was giving her as she continued. "This isn't some elaborate joke set up by the Jonins, this place really _is_ dangerous. You never know what might happen if we split-"

"Man, that's so much better!" Naruto's voice interrupted, followed by a sigh of relief as the bushes rustled in the direction of where Naruto had disappeared and Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrowed immediately. _That's not Naruto!_ In a fraction of a second, Kiyomiko drew a jagged kunai from her belt and attacked, her form almost disappearing to the untrained eye as she lunged into an attack so fluid that the imposter barely dodged in time. "What the hell?!"

"Kiyo-chan?! What are you doing?!" Sakura cried, her bright green eyes wide as she watched the scene before her. Kiyomiko's eyes had changed, they'd become dangerous, devoid of the light they held when she looked at anything other than an opponent and her movements were startlingly precise, nothing wasted as she whipped a handful of senbon at her target, narrowly missing him before she followed it up by a jagged kunai, the serrated blade whistling as it sliced through the air only to be deflected by a move that Naruto never could have pulled off.

"T-that's not Naruto!" Sasuke hissed, drawing his own kunai and joining in on the fight as Sakura watched, spluttering in disbelief as Sasuke and Kiyomiko worked together, Kiyomiko adjusting her moves to compliment his just as she'd always done. "Look closely, Sakura! Why is his kunai pouch on his _left leg_ when Naruto is _right-handed_?!"

"And what happened to the cut on his left cheek?! He got cut when he mouthed off to Anko, remember?!" Kiyomiko snarled, never taking her eyes off of the imposter as she dropped into a catlike crouch and swept the imposter's feet out from under him just before Sasuke delivered a kick to the imposter's ribs, sending him sailing off of the branch they stood on and fifteen feet towards the forest underbrush. "Even his scent is different! Watch him carefully!"

"Eh?!" Sakura gasped, watching just as Kiyomiko commanded as the imposter fell only to twist in mid-air and land on his hands before suddenly springing upright, a move that Naruto never would have been able to pull off in that short amount of time. Kiyomiko and Sasuke dropped from the branch to land in front of Sakura with hard expressions, facing off against the imposter with weapons drawn. "But then.. What happened to Naruto?!"

"I told you, we never should have split up!" Kiyomiko growled low as she relaxed into a stance, raising a kunai in one hand and her closed fan in the other as she watched the imposter change back into his original form. It was an older boy, about seventeen from what little she could see of his face, wearing a faded yellowish jumpsuit that looked like a straightjacket, stitched closed up the middle with a rebreather over his mouth and a cloth mask over his eyes, tufts of near-black hair escaping from the forehead protector over his brow. "Amegakure, _ka_? I figured. You _wreak_ of oil!"

"Unlucky!" The man chuckled, holding a kunai out in front of him as his wicked eyes travelled over the three Genin before resting on Kiyomiko, his posture tensing when recognition flashed in his eyes. "Why don't you tell me which one of you has the scroll, _ko musume_? If you just hand it over, I'll leave you all alone!"

"Oh? And why would I want to do that when you've _so kindly_ come to us?" Kiyomiko's voice dipped low, predatory as the corners of her eyes crinkled into a smile hidden beneath her borrowed mask, a smile matched by Sasuke as he stood beside her, seemingly understanding her train of thought. "I think you should stick around for a while longer!"

Before the older boy had a chance to realize what was going on, three tendrils of water whipped out of the shadowy foliage behind him, wrapping around his ankles, wrists and throat, a sharp jerk yanking him off of his feet and onto the ground. The older boy was tightly bound by the three tendrils of water coiling around his body and Sakura gasped when an identical Kiyomiko stepped out of the shadows, holding the other end of the water ropes while the clone beside Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke. After Sasuke had knocked the Amegakure shinobi off of the branch, Kiyomiko had replaced herself with a clone, dropping into the shadows before anyone but Sasuke had noticed a difference.

"Sasuke, check him for a scroll." Kiyomiko said calmly as she stepped closer, the water ropes retracting with her movements so that they always remained taught and Sasuke smirked, appearing beside the older boy. Kiyomiko came to a stop over the older boy, pressing one dainty foot against the center of his chest while Sasuke started to pat him down, searching for the boy's scroll. "Well, judging by the fact that no one has come to your rescue yet, I'll assume you were foolish and decided to attack us on your own."

"Got it!" Sasuke grinned as he tore a scroll from the boy's pantleg, holding it up to show Kiyomiko. It was an Earth scroll, the one they needed to form a pair. Sasuke quickly stowed the scroll in his kunai pouch and Kiyomiko chuckled slightly, shaking her head. "It hasn't even been two hours yet and we've already got what we need! We should hurry up, find Naruto and get to the tower. If our luck keeps up, we should make it before nightfall."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Sasuke. We still have a lot of ground to cover." Kiyomiko drawled lightly as she pulled a small plastic cylinder from a pouch on her belt, kneeling down to knock the Amegakure shinobi's rebreather off before she cracked the cylinder between her fingers, forcing him to breathe in the powder inside by giving him a quick jab in the gut. Sasuke and Sakura watched with some surprise while the older boy struggled for a few seconds before his eyes rolled back and he stilled, losing consciousness within one minute. Kiyomiko stood and dismissed her water ropes with a small sigh of satisfaction as she turned to face her teammates. "Come on, we need to find Naruto and this time, we'll _stay together_. I don't want a repeat of this little fiasco. Once we're together again, we'll decide how to get to the tower."

Finding Naruto took a little longer than expected, near half an hour, and when they finally found him, the boy was tied up at the base of a tree looking rather miserable with a rather large lump on his head and Kiyomiko sighed, shaking her head as she untied him. After Naruto's wound was tended to, the team took to the trees once again, quickly leaving the area before the other Amegakure shinobi came looking for their teammate or anyone else came to investigate the noise of battle. They had a lot of ground to cover in order to stay ahead of the game and these little diversions were beginning to get on her nerves, though there was something else that was bothering her considerably more. As more time passed, Kiyomiko became more and more tense, sending the familiar presence that had been following them the whole time, since they entered the forest, but she couldn't tell who it was at this distance and it was driving her mad.

As the sun began to set in the west, Team Seven dropped from the trees to rest in a small clearing, secluded from the rest of the forest by a thick wall of vines and briars on all sides, shielding them from view as they sat around in a circle. Canteens of water and dry rations that tasted startlingly similar to cardboard were passed around and Kiyomiko looked around at her teammates with a shadowed gaze. They were exhausted, not used to travelling at such a harrowing pace like she was, and she sighed slightly, deciding to allow them another ten minutes to recover. It would be pretty bad if one of them collapsed.

"We've made good time today, already half-way to the tower and we already have what we need to continue to the next test." Sasuke spoke up, stuffing his canteen back into his backpack, his ink-black gaze turning a little more serious as he looked over at Kiyomiko, catching her gaze before he twitched his foot to one side and her eyes narrowed slightly. Sakura and Naruto didn't notice at all, distracted by their meal as they listened to the conversation, not reading between the lines, as usual. "We should come up with a password to use.. Just in case we get seperated again."

"_Ah_. But we have to remember not to trust _anyone_ who gives us the wrong password, no matter how much they may look like one of us." Kiyomiko interjected calmly as she looked over Sasuke's shoulder to see a stalk of dry bamboo sticking up out of the grass and she gave a miniscule nod of understanding. They were being watched. Whoever had been following them this whole time had been waiting for them to tire out, stop to rest and now they were listening in for information before they struck.. _Sneaky bastard_.. Sakura and Naruto fell silent as Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and returned her gaze to Sasuke. "Any ideas?"

"One, but you have to listen closely because I'm only going to say this once. First you ask: "The Ninja Song, Ninki?".." Sasuke began as everyone nodded once, going silent as they listened. "Then the answer is: "It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. The time when the enemy is tired and his guard is down." That's it."

"_Ano_.. Could you say it again..? That was really long.." Naruto seemed a little crestfallen, his head tilting to one side slightly, like a curious puppy and Kiyomiko would have nearly facepalmed if it weren't for the fact that she saw when the bamboo stalk disappeared into the ground behind Sasuke. Unfortunately, Sakura and Naruto missed it.

"That would defeat the purpose, Naruto. What if someone's listening?!" Sakura snapped as everyone started to stand up and pack up their gear, Kiyomiko pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off an oncoming migraine. Sasuke seemed to sympathize as he was rubbing his temples slightly when he thought no one was looking.

Once the team was ready to leave, they crept through the tangled wall of vines and briars as carefully as they could, taking much longer than they should have because they were all trying to stay quiet but once they were free of it, they could see the tower in the distance. From where she stood, Kiyomiko could see that it was a straight shot, they could make it there overnight with little to no resistance from the terrain and the wildlife wouldn't be much of a problem. If they were lucky, they could even... All thoughts in her mind ceased when she came to a sudden stop, her pale silver eyes widening, her muscles tensed and shoulders trembling. That presence.. That scent.. It had come closer and she _knew_ it. The scent of blood, old paper, medicines and..!

"_GET DOWN_!" Kiyomiko shouted as she whirled at her full speed, startling her team as she shoved them backwards behind a small tree, raising her arms to cover her head and neck just one single second before a massive blast of wind took her. However, she had underestimated the size of the blast. The tree was swept away in the destruction, taking her teammates with it as if they weighed nothing at all. She had to protect them! She couldn't let this happen! She couldn't let them get hurt because of her! She had to do something! Kiyomiko's mind jammed into gear and she scrambled for anything to hold onto just seconds before her head cracked against something stone and all strength left her, everything slowly fading to black, only one thought remaining before even that disappeared into the darkness.

"_No.. Not again.. Not him._"

-(o.o)-

Pain. That was her whole world and Kiyomiko fought to recall how to breathe before she slowly rose from her darkness and returned to a semi-conscious state, gasping in a breath as if she'd just surfaced from deep water. She could feel that she was sprawled out across a hard and jagged surface, even without opening her eyes, and her entire body hurt as if she'd been dropped off a cliff. Remembering her training, Kiyomiko stayed still, listening to the silence of her surroundings while she got her bearings before she started to test her body for wounds, systematically twitching each muscle and joint in such a way that it would be nearly invisible to anyone watching her. When she had successfully determined that she was relatively uninjured and mostly able to battle, she cracked open her eyes and looked around. It was dark. Night had fallen while she had been unconscious and the forest was totally destroyed around her, her teammates nowhere in sight. She couldn't smell anything and she couldn't hear anything, as if she were wrapped in a thick mist that dulled her senses and she mentally cursed. There was only one presence that could do that, totally wipe out her senses as if she had none to begin with... _Any second now_..

As if on cue, Kiyomiko heard footsteps nearby, approaching at a casual, almost lazy, pace as if they had no need to rush or even hide their presence, and of course he wouldn't. Slowly, Kiyomiko sat up, bringing one hand to her aching head to ease the ringing in her ears while she groped around in the dirt with her free hand, splinters from destroyed trees and sharp rocks pricking her fingertips but she ignored it all, almost drunkenly searching for any kind of weapon. She needed to arm herself, she needed to wake up more, she needed to move, attack, defend, _anything_ but just _sit there_! The footsteps came to a stop almost right in front of her and she slowly raised her eyes, blinking the world into focus as a frown appeared on her face, hidden beneath her borrowed mask. A tall, slim figure looked back at her, long black hair swaying in a slight breeze while golden eyes pierced the darkness around her, pale skin almost glowing in the starlight, contrasting with the shadows. _No.. not again_..

"It's nice to see you again, Kiyomiko." A familiar voice reached her ears, acting as a catalyst that shocked her out of her stupor and her eyes widened with the recognition, her muscles tensing like a rubberband about to snap. He was smiling, actually _smiling_, down at her, his smile only widening when he saw the flicker of terror in her eyes quickly turn to anger. "It's been a very long time, hasn't it? Six years, if I recall correctly. You've grown."

"Orochimaru!" Kiyomiko snarled, ignoring the pain that screamed through her, the blood seeping out of various superficial wounds that covered her body as she hauled herself into a crouch, her pale silver eyes gleaming like polished blades as she glared, sharingan blooming in her eyes like a blood-red flower that seemed to slice through the darkness around her as she looked up at her father. It was useless to wonder how he'd found her, useless to ask how he'd gotten into Konoha unnoticed despite the heightened security. She understood now, from his expression, the amusement in his eyes. He had known where she was the whole time.

"Oh? You're not calling me "Father" anymore?" Orochimaru chuckled, feigning an expression of almost disappointment before his face took on an appraising look, watching her movements as she prepared for battle, her eyes never leaving his. "I'm hurt."

"I thought I made it _perfectly_ clear that I refuse to call you that! You _lost_ that right when you tried to kill me, remember?!" Kiyomiko growled, digging a hand into her kunai pouch and whipping a handful of smoke bombs between them, a red smoke billowing into the air and masking her lightning fast handseals as she jumped backwards to put as much distance between them as possible. Chakra surged through her entire body as she forced it into her hands, the temperature around her dropping so sharply that frost curled away from her feet when she landed on a rock nearby. "_I won't let you kill me!_ Futon: Reppusho!"

Before the billowing clouds of red smoke cleared, Kiyomiko raised her hands, glowing with a pale blue chakra, compressing the air between her palms as she clapped them together, the resulting sound like a crack of thunder as gale-force winds screamed away from her in the direction of the red smoke. Acting as quickly as she could, Kiyomiko drew handfuls of senbon needles from her hair and tossed them into the wind, doing the same with a few handfuls of her serrated kunai for a nasty surprise, a low and determined growl rumbling through her. Before the attack even hit, Kiyomiko funnelled chakra into her legs, abandoning her current location as she ran around to attack from the side just as the howling wind blew away the smoke and the resulting explosion of her attack scattered splinters, soil and rocks everywhere.

A chuckle reached her ears and Kiyomiko's growl grew louder when the smoke cleared to reveal that Orochimaru was perfectly unharmed and her fists clenched in frustration. He wasn't even scratched, not a single hair out of place or a speck of dirt on his clothes! That only served to infuriate her more and she lowered into a runner's stance, pooling chakra into her legs to achieve the maximum speed her body could withstand as her sharingan glared through the darkness. If she couldn't take him down with ninjutsu, she'd have to try something else. Taijutsu! As soon as the word entered her mind, Kiyomiko's body bolted towards him, leaving an after-image with her chakra-infused speed as she brought her fists up, ready to attack with everything she had as she threw all of her weight into every step before she jumped upwards. All of a sudden, she came to a jarring halt that shook her so much that her head spun and her mind reeled, feeling a hand curl around her throat, squeezing just enough that she had mild difficulty breathing.

"You forget yourself, little Kiyomiko.." Orochimaru smirked, raising her level with his face, his yellow eyes glittering with the malicious amusement she had once envied, but that was a long time ago and she growled low as she hung loose from his grasp, trying to force her mind to work properly once again. She was running out of time! "I created you, child. You are powerless against me. I know your every move, even the techniques you've learned while you thought you were free. Why not give up quietly and come home?"

"_I... won't.. back.. DOWN!_" Kiyomiko's growl grew in volume with every breath as she brought her hands up between them, using a kunai to slash at the palm of her hand before she formed the only seals that came to mind. Her own hot blood coated her hands and fingers, seeping out of the wounds that covered her battered body as she forced most of her remaining chakra into one reckless, desperate and foolish move, slamming her bloody hands against her father's chest. She just hoped it was enough. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A massive explosion burst forth between them and Kiyomiko was torn from Orochimaru's grasp as he was shoved backwards from the force of a summoned creature nearly landing on top of him and Kiyomiko collapsed onto the back of a huge charcoal grey fox, gasping and coughing for breath as she gripped the fur beneath her. The huge fox stood tall and proud, the top of it's shoulders reaching the top of her father's head as it narrowed it's eyes on Orochimaru, recognizing the danger of the man's gaze and understanding the evil all too well before the fox tensed beneath her. Kiyomiko's red eyes were barely open, ringed by dark circles as she fought against her own body's weakness, her breath coming in strangled rasps and pants as she pushed herself up to glare at Orochimaru.

"Oie oie.. Ne-chan.." The fox's voice was rough, unrefined and distinctly male, just like she remembered, calling her "sister" like the back-alley Yakuza clans referred to their respected female members. Kiyomiko steadied herself, her gaze never leaving her father's eyes as the fox backed away a few steps, his movements slow and deliberate. "You're going up against that snake-eyed bastard in a place like this? There are kids crawling all over these woods. Are you crazy?"

"Yuji, I had no choice.. Get me out of here!" Kiyomiko rasped, weaving her fingers into the fox's fur and clinging to him for dear life as the fox sprung into action, whipping around and sprinting away from Orochimaru so fast that the world nearly blurred as he took to the trees, jumping from branch to branch. Kiyomiko fought to stay conscious as she rubbed her neck, cringing beneath her mask as she tried to heal the ache to near bearable, ignoring the thick leaves and twigs that clawed at her as the fox ran. Yuji was one of the fastest foxes that Kiyomiko could summon, second only to one other, and if anyone had a chance of outrunning Orochimaru, it was Yuji.

All of a sudden, there was an explosion very close to her, followed by a pained yelp as Yuji was unsummoned and Kiyomiko was sent into an uncontrolled flight before gravity took her and she began to quickly lose altitude. She scrambled for anything to stop her but once again, the universe was against her and her back slammed into the trunk of an ancient tree, bark snapping behind her from the force of her small body being hurled against it. Once again, pain shot through her body and her vision was blinded as she slid down the trunk and into the dirt at the base of the tree. She was sure that she could feel a sticky warmth trickling down the back of her neck, her long black hair coming loose from it's binds as it hung around her head when she slumped forward. The pain that coursed through her body was so intense that she couldn't move, she couldn't run and she couldn't fight back when she heard a dark chuckle nearby, felt a hand grip the front of her shirt and lift her before Orochimaru's arrogant and malicious gaze entered her blurred vision once again. She couldn't even struggle against him or move her head to look away. All of this.. These past six years, all of the training and learning new techniques, all of the running and the hiding.. It had all been pointless. She was no stronger against her father than she had been when he'd tried to kill her six years ago.

"I know that you lust for power just as I do, child. After all, I am the one who created you. It's in your blood. _My_ blood. I know the power you hold within you, the potential you possess! I will give you one last present, dear Kiyomiko, in the hopes that you will realize your true nature as I have intended. You _will_ return to me, whether by your own design or mine." Orochimaru's words filtered into Kiyomiko's pain-fogged mind, his gaze blinding her to everything else just seconds before another sharp jab of searing pain tore across her neck and coursed through her entire body like fire burning through her veins, electricity crackling down her spine and blades sliding across her skin all at the same time. There was nothing else in her world and a shrill scream of agony and terror ripped from her throat before more of her father's words vaguely registered in her mind. "Know that even if you do not return, another has already recieved this same gift and he will not be so stubborn. He _will_ seek me out, for the power I offer him is exactly what he desires most."

As soon as his words burned into her mind, she felt herself drop into the dirt, slumped to one side like a discarded ragdoll as fire burned through every fiber and cell of her being. She could barely breathe but she could hear an almost disappointed sigh before lazy and unhurried footsteps began to retreat back into the forest, crunching over splintered wood, shards of stone and foliage scattered across the forest floor. He was leaving her. Orochimaru had done what he had come to do, he'd nearly killed her once again and now he was just leaving her while she was still alive. It was a message, that he could kill her whenever he wanted to, that she was just a plaything for the moment. It didn't matter.. that she was his daughter. Everything went quiet and Kiyomiko looked upwards at the sky overhead. It was dark tonight, the moon was barely a sliver and the new moon was tomorrow night.. Ironic.. How even the moon has alligned with her own waning power..

"_Yuki.. It hurts.._"

"_He has infected you with some sort of strange chakra.. His chakra.. It's taking over._"

"_Hurry.. Seal it away before it takes me completely!_"

"_It has already seeped into most of your chakra, Kiyomiko! If I seal it away, you'll be crippled! You won't be able to fight on your own!_"

"_Then.. It's a good thing.. I'm not alone.._"

"_Kiyomiko!.. Alright. I'll seal away his chakra and lend you mine. I will support you and protect you as you have protected me. I will halt this infection, seal away the tainted chakra and put you back together. Sleep now, Kiyomiko, for the pain will be near unbearable._"

"_Hn.. It's only pain._"

-(o.o)-

The wind was acting strangely, a bizarre and unknown chakra laced through the cold, erratic gusts, hanging heavily on the air as a deep chill began to form, as if the seasons had suddenly begun to change from mid-spring to mid-autumn. There was an abnormal tension as everything seemed to hush, as if the world was preparing for something, some sound, and everyone inside the Forest of Death seemed to sense that.. something was going to happen.. though, what that something was, no one knew. The hush continued, man and beast alike stilled and silent, and then all at once the silence was broken. A shrill scream pierced the night quiet of the dense forest, a girl's scream, one of intense agony and pain as if the girl was very close to death and a dim pale blue glow began to form deep within the forest, seen only by those located in a high place with a view of the sky. The glow grew in intensity for a few seconds, gradual like a pulse before the girl's scream went quiet and the chakra vanished like smoke on a breeze, leaving the world in silence once again.

"Fuuucckk... You were right, Yuki.. I should have listened to you.." Kiyomiko groaned as she laid back in the dirt, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession as she blinked the world into focus, her voice rough and hoarse, throat sore, breath coming in ragged gasps before she managed to regain her bearings somewhat. It hurt.. Like a part of her had just been cut away and she managed a weak growl as she reached a trembling hand up to wipe the beads of cold sweat from her brow, her hair messy and clinging to her dirt-streaked and blood-stained body. She didn't mind the blood, but the sweat and the dirt, the scent of _his_ touch around her neck and on the front of her shirt made her skin crawl.

"_It would be better if you rested for a while, though given the current situation.._" Yuki's voice whispered in her mind and Kiyomiko sighed, forcing herself into an upright postion with a muffled whimper as she brought her hand to her neck. It hurt. Big surprise there. Yuki had healed it but the damage had been fairly severe beforehand and she could still feel the pain. "_Kiyomiko.. You have to move. The sound of battle.. plus.. The noise will have attracted attention. You must leave the area now, before someone finds you while you're still weakened._"

"_Fine, fine.._" Kiyomiko sighed mentally as she tried to pick herself up, her movements unsteady and awkward like an infant trying to stand for the first time and she growled at the difficulty, resting on her hands and knees for a moment before she finally hauled herself to her feet. Kiyomiko drew in a breath as she stood, reaching up to sweep her messy hair away from her face before she started to walk, putting one foot in front of the other. Cuts, scrapes and bruises still covered her body, visible through the gashes in her clothing, bordering on immodest but she didn't care. She needed to get to water and that's exactly where she was going, she remembered that there was a river nearby and she could spend a short time recovering there. Water always made her feel better. It would take some of this weakness away. "_So, how is this whole sharing chakra thing going to work?_"

"_We will have to take it slow at first. Your body will not be able to withstand much of my chakra right away._" Yuki explained as Kiyomiko walked, unfocused flat grey eyes narrowed dangerously on the ground as she forced herself not to stumble, walking tall and proud as she crossed through the destroyed part of the forest, weaving through shadowy trees towards the scent of wet earth. "_Whatever jutsu Orochimaru used.. More than half of your own chakra was sealed away with his. I will make up for this difference by allowing you to freely draw upon my own chakra but you must take great care. If you draw too much of my chakra too quickly, and your body has not yet adjusted to it, you could die._"

"Great.. So, no pressure or anything." Kiyomiko grumbled aloud, resting a hand against a tree trunk for a moment before she pushed off of it and continued on through the dark forest, the sound of water rushing over rocks coming closer with every step. She was almost there. She could see the riverbank ahead and she never slowed her pace as she stepped into the water, wading deeper and deeper until the water had risen to cover her chest, feeling the cold water wash over her body, red seeping into the current as it rinsed the blood away. With one last glance around, Kiyomiko allowed herself to dip below the surface of the water, sweeping her fingers through her long black hair and biting back a startled yelp when she felt the large wound on the back of her head, from when she'd cracked up against the tree earlier. It was still sore but at least it wasn't bleeding anymore. It would heal on it's own.

Once she was as clean as she was ever going to be, Kiyomiko rose from the water with a near silent breath, walking out of the river as she swept her long black hair over one shoulder and wrung it out on the riverbank with a soft sigh, looking down at the shredded remains of her clothes with an expression of disdain. _Well, at least Kakashi's mask is still in one piece.._ She didn't have time to be choosy, she needed to find her team and make sure they were alright. Steeling herself, Kiyomiko crept back into a secluded portion of the forest and stripped off her shredded clothes, opening up her knapsack to retrieve her white yukata and her geta, still clean and dry despite everything that had happened that day. With a surprising amount of dexterity, Kiyomiko removed the old, bloodied bandages and wrapped fresh ones around her calves, forearms and neck, wincing when her fingertips brushed across her father's little _parting gift_, before she quickly donned her white yukata and geta, leaving her hair loose down her back while she tied her forehead protector around her neck, covering the bandages while Kakashi's mask was slipped beneath her sash until it dried. With all of her belongings packed away in her black canvas knapsack, Kiyomiko swung her bag onto her back and paused. She had to do it sooner or later. Better get it over with.

"_Yuki_."

Just like before, on the bridge in the Land of Waves, Kiyomiko could feel Yuki's chakra seeping into her system, slowly restoring her strength, easing her exhaustion and the pain of her wounds as they gradually began to heal a little faster. Indeed, just like before, her body temperature began to drop and just like before, she never felt cold. It was because Yuki was within her. Once she was at full strength again, the cold chakra began to taper off and Kiyomiko's wounds were almost fully healed, only a few of the most severe wounds leaving bruises behind while everything else had disappeared. It had only taken a few minutes. Now that she was once again strong enough to travel and fight, if necessary, Kiyomiko took to the trees, jumping from branch to branch as she made her way towards the scents of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, never noticing the small floating sphere of sand hidden within the foliage behind her.

Kiyomiko travelled through the Forest of Death all alone for the rest of the night, tracking the scents of her friends as the sun rose in the east, light spilling across the world until she finally came to a stop on a branch of a tree beside the river. She could see Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke setting up what looked like a temporary campsite and she sighed with relief at seeing that they were all relatively unharmed. Dropping from her branch, Kiyomiko allowed her geta to click against the ground when she landed, causing her teammates to whirl around and look at her as she stood still, sweeping a hand through her long black hair. Immediately, Naruto smiled but Sasuke and Sakura looked tensed, holding the blonde boy back as Sasuke took a step forward, his eyes narrowed. _Good. They're learning_.

"The Ninja song, Ninki?" Sasuke demanded, holding a kunai at the ready. Now that she was closer, the boy looked pretty beat up, his face was a few shades lighter than it should have been and dark circles ringed his eyes as if he were exhausted, his clothes streaked with dirt and speckled with what looked like dried blood. Even Sakura looked worn out, her hair chopped shorter as if cut by a kunai, hanging down to brush the tops of her shoulders, healing bruises and bandages on her arms, legs and a small bruise on her cheek. Naruto was the only one who seemed to be relatively unharmed, only his clothes dirtied. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who'd had a rough night.

"What's the point of using a password we used to lure a spy, _Aho-Sasuke_?" Kiyomiko asked, propping her hands on her hips with a quirked brow. Sasuke seemed to hesitate for a moment before he relaxed, lowering his kunai while Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, resting a hand over her heart as she sunk to her knees. Naruto was glowering at Sasuke's back but seemed to calm down when Kiyomiko started walking over. "So, who's going to start explaining first?"

"You go first. I'm too tired." Sasuke sighed, sitting cross-legged beside the small campfire, Sakura sitting down across from him while Naruto sat across from Kiyomiko when she sat down as well. She was slightly surprised by the warmth of the small campfire before she realized that she was just that much colder by comparison and her expression faltered for a moment as she lowered her gaze to the flickering flames. "Last we saw you, you shoved us back just before the blast hit us.. So much happened to us after that, we never got a chance to go looking for you. I figured that the best place to start looking for you was around water, since you always seem to end up near a river or a lake anyway."

"It was a good idea." Kiyomiko smiled slightly. It was true. Whenever she was wounded, she usually went for the nearest water source. A bit predictable, but it was a habit she couldn't break. Water made her feel better. When she noticed all three of her teammates looking at her, Kiyomiko sighed, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't really know what to tell you. After I got thrown by that blast, I got knocked out when I hit my head on something and I didn't wake up until well after nightfall. I woke up trapped under some rubble, it took me a while to get out and when I finally got free, I walked to an area of the river south of here and tended to my wounds and then I came looking for you guys. It was all very uneventful, I'm afraid."

"Do you still have your scroll? The Heaven Scroll that the Examiners gave us?" Sakura asked, a slight waver of worry in her voice while both Sasuke and Naruto seemed agitated by the mention of the scrolls and Kiyomiko quirked a brow.

"Yeah, I still have it." Kiyomiko answered with a slightly puzzled tone as she patted one of the shoulder straps of her knapsack reassuringly. "Did something happen to the Earth Scroll that Sasuke was carrying?"

"It got taken." Sasuke answered, making no attempt to hide the irritation in his voice as he folded his arms across his chest and glared down at the flickering flames of the campfire between them. "It happened just after the blast that sent us all flying. We were attacked almost right away.. The guy was too strong."

"Well, I can't say that I didn't plan ahead, just in case something like this happened." Kiyomiko sighed easily, her head tilted to one side as if she were exhausted, all eyes turning to her. "Don't get too down about it. There's still plenty of time to get another scroll and since everyone is heading in the same direction, we can just nab one from another team on our way to the tower. We should regain our energy as quickly as possible, though. I have a feeling that today is going to be a very long day."

Once everything was decided, the team relaxed for a little while. Naruto and Sasuke went to the river to gather some fish while Kiyomiko stayed with Sakura to better tend to her wounds by the campfire. Kiyomiko couldn't help but think that it was strangely peaceful by the river, as if she weren't really in an area aptly named "The Forest of Death" where just about everything inside it wanted to kill her. _An amusing thought_. The sun was shining, light glittering off of the ripples over the river, a gentle breeze sweeping across the riverbank, everything seemed so light and airy. Peaceful. _Too peaceful_. Kiyomiko's brow furrowed slightly as she stood up and looked around, seeing Naruto and Sasuke down by the river a short ways away, Sakura sitting beside the campfire as she ran a wooden comb through her hair, trying out different hairstyles while she looked in a compact mirror. No.. There was nothing wrong with this picture, which, oddly, felt wrong. Kiyomiko's senses were confirmed a second later.

"Oh, what luck! I just happened to see the smoke from your campfire and-!" A familiar voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko whirled, drew her fan from her sash and flicked it open with one hand while her other hand clutched a jagged kunai, all in one startlingly fluid movement as her hard silvery gaze locked with a pair of dark, shocked eyes. She recognized Kabuto instantly but she didn't relax, instead she grew more agitated, her eyes narrowing when his eyes widened, his gaze lingering on her face. "Eh..? Why are you..?"

"Kiyo-chan! It's just Kabuto-san!" Sakura said hurriedly as she stood up, the worry in her voice drawing the attention of Naruto and Sasuke from the river, the two boys jogging over to see what was going on while Kiyomiko hadn't moved a muscle, her silvery gaze never leaving Kabuto's. "Kiyo-chan!"

"Kiyo..miko-chan, right..?" Kabuto blinked and whatever jumble of emotions that had been in his gaze were gone, replaced with a near absent-minded surprise as he harmlessly lifted one hand to point at her as if he almost didn't believe what he was seeing. It took a moment for the realization to sink in and Kiyomiko almost facepalmed, she wasn't wearing Kakashi's mask and now Kabuto knew her face. She could see the worry and confusion on her teammates faces and she hesitated before she reclutantly lowered her weapons. Kiyomiko snapped her fan closed and slipped it into her sash, her hands disappearing into the flowing white silk sleeves of her yukata as she half-turned with a scowl on her face, Kabuto giving a nervous laugh. "Eheheh.. I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you without your mask on, Kiyomiko-chan. You don't have to worry, I won't tell anyone what you look like. Though, you're quite beautiful without the mask.. Why do you even wear it?"

"Oh please. In this line of work, it's a little hard _not_ to have trust issues, isn't it?" Kiyomiko snapped rather bluntly as she drew Kakashi's mask from beneath her sash, sweeping her long black hair aside as she pulled the black cloth mask over her head and smoothed it over the lower half of her face, just like Kakashi wore his. "Just accept that I have my own reasons and leave it alone. Instead, why don't you tell us why you're out here all by yourself? I don't sense any others in the forest around us and you're obviously not after scrolls."

"Oh, no. Actually, I already have both of the scrolls." Kabuto replied with an awkward smile, apparently slightly put off by Kiyomiko's rather frigid attitude towards him once again, though he seemed to take it with relative grace. "I'm afraid that I got seperated from my team sometime last night and I was just on my way to the tower to meet up with them. I stopped when I saw the smoke from your campfire and decided to investigate."

"Well, not to render your implied concern _completely_ pointless, but we were just leaving." Kiyomiko sighed as she walked over to the tiny campfire and kicked the small pile of burning wood without even flinching from the heat, the sticks scattering across the smooth white pebbles that lined the riverbanks. "We have to make our way towards the tower and I'm hoping that we'll run into another team or a Collector so we can snag ourselves an Earth Scroll."

"Eh? Collector?" Naruto asked while Sakura and Sasuke prepared for departure, breaking down the temporary campsite and gathering up their belongings as Kiyomiko hid her hands in her flowing sleeves, walking over to stand beside the boy as Kabuto watched her.

"Oh? I'm impressed by your resourcefulness, Kiyomiko-chan." Kabuto smiled, turning to Naruto as he started to explain. "In these kinds of situations, some people will try to take any scrolls from any unexpected enemies they beat, collecting them, hense the name. They keep the scrolls and use them as a sort of currency, should they meet anyone else, or they can be given away to friends from the same village if they still need a scroll. Other times, you can use them to gain useful information that can help you through the rest of the Exams, or to dissuade a strong opponent from harming you, essentially bartering for your freedom. Collectors are often very strong.. Are you sure you'll be alright, Kiyomiko-chan? You.. look a little exhausted."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about her." Sakura interjected with a lazy wave of dismissal, walking up to stand between Kiyomiko and Naruto while Sasuke stood beside Naruto. Kabuto quirked a brow as if to question the pink-haired girl's meaning. "Kiyo-chan may look exhausted but she can outlast Sasuke and I, easily. The only person who seems to be able to keep up with her is Naruto."

"Which is absolutely ridiculous, considering her eating and sleeping habits.. Or lack thereof. I don't think I've ever seen her eat meat besides a little bit of fish now and again. Mostly just dried fruits or rice, if the situation permits." Sasuke drawled, shooting an almost scolding glare at Kiyomiko, to which she replied with a quirked brow of mild indifference. "Enlighten me. When is the last time you ate anything, and what was it? Or how long you slept last? Being unconscious doesn't count, by the way."

"The last time I slept was the night before last, before we all met up outside the Academy for the Exams and it was for three hours." Kiyomiko answered with a bored sigh, her head tilting to one side as if she were tired of the conversation already, despite the shocked stares from Kabuto, Sakura and Naruto while Sasuke just looked like his point had been proven. "And the last time I ate was that same morning. It was a small bowl of rice and two peaches."

"See what I mean?" Sasuke gave an exhausted sigh, dramatically gesturing towards Kiyomiko, mostly for Kabuto's benefit before he shrugged and shook his head.

"That's.. not possible! How long has she been like this?" Kabuto looked between the rather annoyed-looking Kiyomiko and the bored-looking Sasuke with a plainly and openly startled expression.

"Since we met her, a week before graduation. She's always been like that and we've all just kind of assumed that she's just some kind of weird monster in human form and left it at that." Sakura interjected with a calm tone, as if she were explaining something totally mundane, causing Kabuto to do a double take before he openly gaped at Kiyomiko.

"It probably doesn't help that you're all just a bunch of Konoha softies. However pleasant this village is, everyone here is peace-drunk. Life outside these walls, in the real world, isn't as easy as you've had it here." Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest as she turned a sly look at the rest of her team, hints of a slightly amused smirk in her voice as she ignored Kabuto completely, as if he wasn't even there. She knew that anyone else probably would have been offended, however her teammates had come to understand that this was how she was and that she really meant no harm despite the harsh words. "Regardless, we really _should_ be going. We're burning daylight, standing around jabbering on like old women. Kabuto-kun, if you're really that worried about the safety of a team of supposed rookies, feel free to tag along."

After that, everyone grouped up and took to the trees, jumping from branch to branch as they made their way towards the tower in the center of the forest. Kiyomiko made sure to keep her guard up around Kabuto, the young man following behind her at what he seemed to think was a safe distance. He would chat with her teammates about little things, mostly information about the Exams but whenever a question of his past came up, he would rather skillfully dodge it with a half answer or another question. Kiyomiko never said anything about it but she committed every word he spoke to memory. There was something about him that she didn't trust, and she was going to find out what it was, sooner or later.

* * *

Okay, it seems like my chapters are getting longer. o_o;  
Well, I'm steadily getting caught up! Okay, not really, but hey I'm making good progress! :D  
Lemme know what you think!  
-Asia


	8. Bird In A Basket

Sorry for the wait, guys. Here's the rewritten chapter eight!

* * *

Kiyomiko was standing in a large, two-level room with dark blue tile floors, high pillars and one door near the back of the room, a large hanging print on the wall. Team Seven had managed to find the Earth Scroll they needed rather quickly, with only a little help from Kabuto, travelling onwards to the tower in the center of The Forest of Death after that. After Sakura figured out the little puzzle, the team unrolled both of the scrolls at the same time, summoning Iruka and they stared at him now, varying expressions of exhaustion on their faces as he spoke. He was looking down at a pocket watch before a smile appeared on his face, looking up at his former students with something akin to pride in his eyes.

"Congratulations, kids. You've made it just in time!" Iruka's warm smile widened slightly as he continued, clicking his watch closed with one hand and slipping it back into his pocket. "You've just passed the Second Exam."

"Oh, _finally_." Kiyomiko sighed as she plopped down onto the tile floor with a surprising lack of grace, laying on her back and looking up at the ceiling while Sakura and Sasuke sat down as well, all three of them sharing an expression of complete exhaustion. The only one still standing was Naruto, bouncing and cheering as if he'd won the lottery... or ramen, and Iruka stood back with a small smile on his face as he looked over his former students, looking like a parent watching his children mature or something of that nature. Kiyomiko really wasn't paying attention anymore.

"However, that's not the end of the message." Iruka gave a slightly awkward laugh as he tried to get the attention of the four Genin after Naruto's cheering had subsided and Kiyomiko craned her neck to look at Iruka, upside-down from her point of view, an eyebrow quirked as she looked at him. "You don't have much time to rest, I'm afraid. The Hokage will be making an announcement once all the teams have had a short rest. He'll be in the Great Hall, in the center of the tower, in twenty minutes to speak to the remaining teams."

"I hope his giving me a liftetime supply of ice cold bottled water, because that's about the only thing that will make me move from this spot for _at least_ another nineteen minutes." Kiyomiko sighed dryly as she sat up, sweeping a hand through her long black hair before a few strands tugged, getting caught beneath the mask she'd borrowed from Kakashi and she bit back a wince as it brushed against her neck, still tender from.. Suddenly, Kiyomiko was tense and she turned to Iruka, getting to her feet so quickly that it would have normally made her dizzy. "Iruka, where's Kakashi?"

Uhm.." Iruka blinked for a moment, clearly startled by Kiyomiko's sudden change as he looked down at her, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto blinking in surprise as well. Kiyomiko's features had hardened, what little could be seen around her mask, her normally pale silver eyes darkening to a stormy grey, a strange chill forming around her. _This is bad.. This is really bad_. "H-he's here. I think I saw him-."

"Nevermind, I'll find him myself." Kiyomiko declared simply as she pulled off her borrowed mask and sniffed at the air, quickly locating Kakashi's thunderstorm scent and following it, marching towards the door in the back of the room with her teammates and Iruka in tow, looking more than a little puzzled as she navigated the corridors and hallways of the tower as if she'd been raised there. She needed to find Kakashi, she needed to tell him.. A low, barely audible growl rumbled from her chest as her small hands balled up into fists inside her sleeves, her geta click-clacking primly across the tile floors as she turned a corridor and saw the man she'd been searching for, sitting just outside what looked like a small infirmary, a book in his hands.

"Oh? So, you guys made it with time to spare. I'm impressed." Kakashi said in a half-cheerful, half-lazy drawl as he snapped his book closed and slipped it into the pouch on his belt as he stood, watching as a rather serious-looking Kiyomiko approached, followed by a puzzled Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Iruka. "You look like you've had quite a tough time out there."

"Yes, yes. Enough of the niceties, Kakashi. Come with me, we need to talk." Kiyomiko rebuffed as she swept up alongside of Kakashi, taking ahold of his sleeve and walking towards the swinging doors into the infirmary without even slowing her pace one bit. Luckily, Sasuke and Sakura seemed to get the idea that Kiyomiko wanted to speak with Kakashi alone and they stopped Naruto and Iruka from following further as Kiyomiko led their Jonin teacher into the empty infirmary, the smell of medicines and cleaning chemicals hanging heavily in the air, nearly making her cough. The flourescent lights were too bright, so harsh that they seemed to wash out all color except for white and it hurt her head so much that she frowned.

"Kiyomiko, what's going on? Did something happen?" Kakashi asked as Kiyomiko released his hand and came to a stop in the center of the room, her hands hanging slack at her sides as she looked straight ahead, her back to him. He couldn't see her face, he couldn't see the emotions flickering in her eyes or detect the racing of her heartbeat. Kiyomiko had no choice anymore, Orochimaru had her cornered and she couldn't help but wonder if that had been his plan all along. She could feel Kakashi's gaze on her back, hear his almost hesitant footsteps approaching behind her and something in her chest clenched painfully, something like fear. "Kiyomiko..?"

"Stay back, Kakashi." Kiyomiko commanded, reaching up to cover her eyes with her hands as if she were playing hide-and-seek and she heard the approaching footsteps abruptly stop behind her, the faint whisper of fabric telling her that Kakashi was kneeling directly behind her. He could tell, on some level, that she was scared, though he didn't seem to realize that she was afraid.. of _him_. Everything was silent for a while as the seconds ticked by before Kiyomiko finally spoke, her voice quiet and hoarse, showing the true level of her exhaustion as her hands continued to cover her eyes. "You said that.. no matter what, you would always be my sensei.. that you'd always protect me if I was in trouble.. I need you to swear to me that that's still the case, even now."

"Of course, that's still the case.. But why-?"

"Because he forced my hand! I want everyone to be safe and I don't have a choice anymore!" Kiyomiko said, her voice raising a little bit, slightly wavering as her shoulders trembled once. It was another small slip in her normally ceaseless control over her own body and Kakashi didn't miss it. He fell silent, seemingly understanding where this conversation was heading. "I have no other options, nothing left.. My whole life, everything I have lived through, all the people I've met.. It's all taught me that I should _never_ trust _anyone_.. Not with this kind of information but I.. can't sit back and watch this happen again."

"Kiyomiko.. Why won't you look at me?"

"Because I'm afraid of you!" Kiyomiko cried, still not looking back at him, her small hands still covering her eyes. She knew it was childish, as if she were trying to hide from the truth, like if she couldn't see it then it couldn't see her, but she knew.. It was pathetic, but she knew.. she couldn't escape the truth anymore. She couldn't keep running, no matter how much she wished she could just disappear right now. She could sense just how stunned Kakashi was by her words but she didn't give him a chance to say anything before she continued. "I'm afraid of everyone in this village! I'm afraid of what they'll do when they find out.. who my father really is!.. Even with all my tough talk, all my masks.. I'm still a coward.."

"Kiyomiko, you don't have to be afraid of me. Whatever happened, I'll protect you." Kakashi said quietly, lightly resting a hand on Kiyomiko's trembling shoulder and she flinched reflexively at his touch. It wasn't anything about him, specifically, it was a conditioned response, and he seemed to understand that, though his brow furrowed slightly. "It's alright.. You can tell me."

"Orochimaru.. is my father.. He's here, not just in Konoha, but _here_ inside the Forest of Death. I know because I was attacked by him late last night.." Kiyomiko explained, her voice barely above a whisper, and she heard Kakashi's breath hitch in his throat as she lowered her hands to her neck, removing her forehead protector, letting it hang loosely at her side before she gripped the bandages around her neck with her other hand, pulling them away as she turned, revealing the marks on her neck. She knew they were there, Yuki had told her. There, on her neck, was a massive oval-shaped bruise, half-healed blue and purple, with two smaller black marks in the center. Two black tomoe had formed on her skin, sitting in opposition of each other like a yin-yang symbol. She let her hands hang slack at her sides as she turned to face Kakashi, the first time she had ever let anyone see the proof of her true emotions as tears rolled down her rounded cheeks, her eyes still closed tight so he might not see the fear she felt or the secret hidden within her eyes, her emotions spiralling out of control. "I'm not the only one he attacked, either. He told me that there was someone else that got this mark as well, a _final gift_, as he called it. I know it was a male, because he kepted saying "He" when he spoke about the person but.. I don't know who it was specifically."

"We already knew that Orochimaru is here.." Kakashi said quietly and Kiyomiko could tell by the tone of his voice that he was frowning beneath his mask, his hand still rested on her shoulder as he looked at the already-half-healed wound on her neck that had been so terrible when she'd recieved it. "He attacked one of Konoha's Jonins last night.. Nearly killed her.. He said that _one_ child of Konoha had been marked.. He never mentioned a second."

"That's because _I'm_ not a child of Konoha.. I don't belong to any village or clan, I have no family.. I'm totally alienated from the rest of the world.." Kiyomiko said with a bitter smirk as she started to wrap the bandages around her neck again, her movements so deft and practiced that she knew that Kakashi could see that she'd been doing it for a long time. "I wasn't strong enough to stop Orochimaru on my own when he attacked me.. I couldn't land a single blow against him.. He was toying with me the whole time and Konoha wasn't strong enough to keep him out, even during the Chunin Exams when security is at an all time high. There's nothing to stop him from taking me. I realize that now.."

"That's not true!" Kakashi replied, resting both hands on Kiyomiko's shoulders now, his tone sounding almost distressed by the bitter hopelessness in her words. "Give me some time to speak with the Hokage after the announcement! I'll ask for special protection for you. You _are_ safe here!"

"You _can't_ be serious!" Kiyomiko cried before she could stop herself, her eyes snapping open as she slapped Kakashi's hands away from her shoulders and took a few steps back, her geta clattering awkwardly over the dark blue tile floor. Kakashi stayed stock still as if he were totally shocked, his hands still raised to the level of Kiyomiko's shoulders, his visible eye wide as he stared at her. "Do you have _any idea_ what you'd be doing?! Not only would the Hokage lock me in a box and throw away the key because of who I am, but anyone _guarding_ that box would be killed! It would only cause more unnecessary deaths! I couldn't live with myself if more people got killed because of me!"

"Kiyomiko.. Y-your eyes..!"

"Eh..?!" Kiyomiko gasped, her eyes widening as she looked at Kakashi, unconsciously memorizing his every movement as he looked back at her with a shocked disbelief in his gaze and she realized what had just happened. She was standing there with her eyes wide open, her irises blood red with three perfectly formed black tomoe in each eye, her sharingan activated because she was under duress. For a split second, pure terror was reflected in her gaze before she covered her eyes with the sleeves of her white yukata and turned away, dropping to her knees. All of her masks and conditioned responses failed her and she was completely and utterly vulnerable and she made herself as small as possble in an attempt to protect herself, her whole body trembling from the force of her fear as a strange chill formed in the air around her. "Please, Kakashi! Don't look! Forget you ever saw it!"

"Kiyomiko!" Kakashi was suddenly kneeling beside her, his hands on her upper arms as he brought her up to his eye-level, forcing her to look at him. Kiyomiko was trembling and terrified, a vast departure from her usual cool calm, her eyes wide as tears rolled down her cheeks. For the first time since knowing Kakashi, Kiyomiko looked like a child, fragile and frail, and the Jonin almost seemed startled by just how thin she really was, how light she was in his grasp. Even for a child, it was dramatic, as if she would crumble up at his touch or blow away at the slightest breeze. "Tell me the truth now! You have sharingan! Are you an Uchiha?!"

"I d-don't know w-what the hell I am!" Kiyomiko stammered, her voice wavering and weak as she looked up at Kakashi. "I lived alone, underground, with my father for the first seven years of my life! All I know about myself is what _he_ told me! I have _Heaven's Eyes_! I'm supposed to be an _asset_ to him and that I needed to keep my sharingan a secret from everyone or I'll be killed! When I was young, he would kill anyone who found out about my eyes, so often that it became _commonplace_! I never knew anything different until I finally escaped him!"

"Alright, listen to me. This is very important." Kakashi relaxed somewhat, releasing Kiyomiko's upper arms as she slumped to her knees in front of him, looking terribly fragile as she tried to regain some amount of control over her emotions, wiping away the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her small hands, a few muffled sniffles escaping her before she could stop them. Kakashi's tone had softened slightly as he looked down at her, her eyes tightly closed as she tried to calm down. "Who else nows about this? About any of this?"

"No one.." Kiyomiko answered weakly, her voice hoarse from crying as she sat back on her heels awkwardly, the skin around her eyes and cheeks turning a faint shade of pink because of how forcefully she'd wiped the tears away, her long black eyelashes still damp when she opened her eyes again. Her sharingan was gone but her eyes had not returned to their normal pale silver, instead they were a flat, dull grey like stormclouds, their luster lost due to the chaos and turmoil of the emotions raging within her. "I know that people have taken an interest in me because of these damn Exams, that they suspect _something_ strange about me, something abnormal for a Genin.. But I've been careful to keep my true abilities a secret. No one knows anything for sure, not even Naruto, Sakura or Sasuke.. Aside from my father, you're the only one who knows.."

"Alright, good.." Kakashi sighed softly, seeming like he was having a slightly difficult time processing the flood of information as he rested a hand on the top of Kiyomiko's head, looking down at her as she looked up at him, her brows furrowed slightly. "Don't worry. It was good that you trusted me with this. I'll speak with the Hokage as soon as I can. You may not have much faith for Konoha, but try to have a little faith in me, alright? I promised that I'd protect you, remember?"

"Hn.." Kiyomiko mumbled as she nodded once, her expression plainly showing that she still didn't have much hope in this new plan but she accepted it for now, watching as Kakashi stood and held his hand out to her, offering to help her up. She stared at it for a second, a little bewildered, as if it were some foreign thing but she took it anyway, allowing Kakashi to help her up, her legs slightly unsteady for a moment before she got her bearings again. As the Jonin turned, however, Kiyomiko caught his sleeve again, her flat grey gaze lowered to the floor with a troubled expression, once again looking like a fragile child when Kakashi turned to look back at her. "Kakashi.. You can speak with the Hokage.. I don't mind being locked away in a cell for the rest of my life, I'm used to that already.. And I don't really care if he decides to execute me for being a danger to the village but.. just promise me that none of my friends will find out the truth?.. Just tell them that I decided to leave the village.. They already know that I might leave at any time... They aren't happy about it, but they've accepted it.. If you tell them that.. they'd believe you."

"Eh..?" Kakashi breathed, his visible eye widening as he looked down at Kiyomiko, her flat grey gaze rising to look up at him with a perfectly serious expression as if what she'd just said was the most natural and understandable thing in the world, bordering on _mundane_ even. Before Kiyomiko even knew what was going on, Kakashi had knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a hug, one arm wrapped around her while one hand gently pressed against her back, her chin resting on his shoulder as her eyes went wide. He didn't speak for the longest time but when he did, his tone was so gentle that her heart ached. "Kiyomiko.. I can't begin to imagine what you've been through before you came to Konoha.. But nothing like that is going to happen here. You don't have to think like that anymore. I promise, you'll be safe from now on."

"I... I'm sorry, Kakashi.. I can tell that you really believe that but.. I'm still too scared to lower my guard.." Kiyomiko whispered, her voice wavering from her faint trembling, and Kakashi didn't try to resist her when she pulled away, taking a few steps back and smoothing her messy bangs around her eyes to hide them, obscuring the evidence of her tears as best she could at the moment as she turned towards the door, pointing with one hand. "We should go.. We've been in here for a while and the others are talking about coming in to get us."

Before Kakashi could stop her, Kiyomiko walked towards the door, keeping her head lowered as she stepped through it and into the long corridor were the rest of her team, and Iruka, sat in the chairs lined along the wall. They stood right away when they saw her, Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widening slightly when they saw her but they didn't say anything when Kakashi appeared in the doorway behind her, shaking his head to disuade them. Kiyomiko was grateful for that and she kept her head down, her arms disappearing into her sleeves as she willed her emotions to stone, following behind her team as they made their way towards the Great Hall where the Hokage would be making his announcement, moving as silently as a ghost.

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko followed after her team in perfect silence, into the Great Hall where the Hokage's announcement was going to take place. It was a large two-level room with balconies for spectators running along the sides, the walls made up of drab grey concrete blocks while the floor was pieced together by faded green tiles. At the end of the room stood a massive statue of a pair of hands forming the hand seal for Ram, a small platform in front of it where the Jonin team leaders of various villages were beginning to line up, the Hokage standing in the center of them while the Genin teams that had survived the Second Exam lined up. Shikamaru's team, Kiba's team, Lee's team, Gaara's team, Kabuto's team and the team from the Sound Village, looking more than a little beat up. Kiyomiko remembered one of the boys from the Sound team, the older boy with the metal arm that had tried to attack Kabuto before the First Exam, and he was staring at her as if he were shocked by something but she ignored it. She wasn't wearing her mask, after all. He was probably just surprised by how young she looked. _Whatever_.

"First off, I would like to congratulate all of you on passing the first two exams!" The Hokage announced with a small, proud smile on his weathered face, looking at the Genin gathered in front of him. As the Hokage spoke, Kiyomiko stared straight ahead, choosing to look at the floor in front of the man instead of looking directly at him, feeling more than a little out of place. Team Seven was the only team with a fourth member, after all, and she stood behind Sakura at the back of the group, sticking out like a sore thumb and people kept glancing at her.. She could feel their eyes on her and it was _really_ beginning to get on her nerves. The Hokage continued to prattle on, congratulating everyone for passing the Second Exam and Kiyomiko glanced upwards towards where Kakashi was standing, locking eyes with him for a moment. The Jonin gave her a small nod of.. almost encouragement and reassurance before Kiyomiko lowered her gaze again, her hands hidden in her sleeves at her sides as everyone seemed to stand to attention, listening to the Hokage. "The Third Exams will begin soon, but before that-"

"Pardon me, Hokage-sama.." A younger man suddenly appeared, kneeling before the Hokage with his head bowed in respect. He was wearing the standard outfit of a Konoha Jonin, the loose black pants and collared shirt with the forest-green combat vest, his dark blue forehead protector retrofitted into a bandanna over his messy jaw-length brown hair. His skin was pale, dark shadows forming under his eyes as if he were ill, which was confirmed by a soft wheeze in his breath though it would be barely noticable under normal circumstances.. if it weren't for his cough. _Strange_.. "I, Hayate Gekko, would like to explain."

"Ah, yes. Very well." The Hokage nodded, giving the man a gesture of go ahead as he took a step aside, giving the man, Hayate, room to address the Genin. It seemed strange to Kiyomiko but really, what _wasn't_ strange about Konoha?

"It's very nice to meet you all. Before the Third Exam, there is something that I would like all of you to do for me." Hayate spoke, his voice quiet before he was cut off by a soft cough. The Genins all quirked a brow as if they were puzzled by the man but all of the Jonins and the Hokage acted as if this sort of behavior was normal so Kiyomiko didn't much care. If the man was here, under the eyes of the Hokage himself, he was obviously well enough to do his job. "Eh.. I'd like you all to participate in some preliminary matches, where your right to compete in the Third Exam is on the line."

"Eh?! Preliminary matches?" Shikamaru gaped, his expression showing a comical amount of surprise and Kiyomiko smirked slightly, committing his face to memory. She probably wouldn't get a chance to ever see that kind of expression from him again. Shikamaru wasn't the only one, either, almost all of the Genins gathered seemed to be wearing various expressions of surprise and annoyance at the news.

"Sensei, I'm afraid I don't understand why 'preliminary matches' would be necessary." Sakura raised her hand as if she were some little Academy student, speaking up with a rather diplomatic tone. "More to the point.. Why do we need them? Can't we just start the Third Exam with the remaining examinees?"

"In this case, preliminary matches are necessary because it would seem that the First and Second exams may have been _too easy_. As it stands currently, there are too many examiness left and, according to regulations, we must decrease this number by half before we move on to the Third Exam." Hayate explained, recieving a fair number of shocked stares and even more glares from the crowd of Genin. "As you no doubt know already, there are many guests arriving for the Third Exam and they are all short on time. It is for this reason that we must hold a certain number of decisive battles, because we are short on time as well. So, with that said, if you are unable to compete in the preliminary matches, let me know. These matches will begin _immediately_."

"_Wonderful_.." Kiyomiko sighed under her breath, her head tilting to one side as if she were bored of this pointless conversation already, her pale silver eyes half open as she looked down at the sage-green tile floor. There were a number of complaints from some of the younger Genin, though a handful of others were already preparing, while others still, like Kiyomiko, stood still as if they were waiting.

"Oh, that's right. I almost forgot to mention.." Hayate's interjected, his voice rising slightly so that he could be heard over the complaints. "All of the matches from here on will be one-on-one battles. If you choose to forfeit now, your teammates will not be disqualified with you."

"_Kiyomiko.._" Yuki's voice filtered through Kiyomiko's mind and her pale silver eyes lost focus, listening as her gaze lowered to the floor in front of her, the rest of the voices and presences around her fading to the background. "_It may be wise to forfeit.. You haven't been able to properly adjust to my chakra yet. It would be dangerous to fight now, especially since you still haven't fully recovered from your battle with your father.._"

"_I know._" Kiyomiko replied with a soft sigh, blinking once to see that her teammates were glancing back at her. She allowed an exhausted smile appear on her youthful, impish features and her teammates' eyes widening in shock as she raised her arms up, knitting her fingers behind her head, keeping her voice low so that only they would hear her. "Well, I think that's my cue to head home."

"Kiyo-chan.. _Ne_.. You're serious? You're dropping out?" Naruto asked, his bright blue eyes wide as he looked back at her, his voice a little louder than she would have liked. There was a brief pause in which a few people glanced over at her but she ignored them, still smiling. "B-but.. You've made it so far!"

"I can't help it if I'm exhausted, Naruto. Besides, I'm all beat up from last night. My neck and shoulder still feel all out-of-whack since I hit my head." Kiyomiko sighed lightly, resting a hand on her neck and tipping her head side-to-side as if it were sore, wincing slightly when a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder. Even though it was sealed, the curse mark that Orochimaru had left her with still managed to hurt sometimes, though she knew that would fade when the bruises healed and her chakra settled. Yuki had completely sealed it away. It was little more than a tattoo now. "And anyway, I don't really see the point in becoming a Chunin. I mean, leading my own team? I already do that now with you three knuckleheads, pretty much."

Kiyomiko let a slight smile appear on her impish face, a genuine smile, but she could tell that something was wrong. Naruto was looking a little crestfallen but there was something.. dark.. in Sasuke's gaze, as if he were measuring the worth of her words, trying to read between the lines and he'd never done that with her before. Kiyomiko was a little surprised by it, but she was distracted by that when Sakura looked outright worried, her eyes lingering on Sasuke's neck. In that moment, everything in Kiyomiko's mind froze. Sasuke looked like he was just as exhausted as she was, if not moreso, and he was favoring one shoulder over the other, as if he were in pain, and his eyes locked on hers as the realization struck. Kiyomiko's control slipped for one second and she gasped, her eyes widening slightly.

"Sasuke.. You should drop out of the exams too.." Sakura whispered, snapping Kiyomiko out of her daze as she regained control of her emotions again, listening to Sakura's words as the pink-haired girl looked over at Sasuke with worry clear in her eyes. Her voice was quiet, so quiet that only Sasuke should have been able to hear her but Kiyomiko's hearing was better than that, she could hear Sakura's words as perfectly as if they'd been whispered to her. "Your shoulder is still bothering you, isn't it..? Ever since that Orochimaru guy bit you.."

"I'm fine!" Sasuke snapped quietly, reaching up to grip one shoulder as his gaze returned to Kiyomiko, though he said nothing else. No words needed to be said because time had slowed for that moment as they looked at one another with perfectly blank expressions, their true thoughts and emotions masked. Orochimaru had said that he'd given his "_gift_" to another, a child of Konoha, a boy.. It was Sasuke.. Her father was after Sasuke's sharingan. And now, because of her little slip up earlier, Sasuke knew that _she_ knew, and that she understood what it was better than even he did.

"Sasuke.. No. I'm issuing you a _formal challenge_, Uchiha, on the honor of your clan!" Kiyomiko's voice was little more than a whisper but it was hard, unfeeling and cold, so quiet that only Sasuke could understand her because he was reading her lips. His eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed dangerously and she felt something in her chest clench so painfully that she nearly winced, resisting the urge to press her hand against her heart. _Yes, Sasuke. I know what I've just done. More than even you know.._ Kiyomiko's expression gave away absolutely nothing as Sasuke studied her, her face a perfectly expressionless mask, totally blank, something that Team Seven had _never_ seen before in their time together. "I won't ask you to drop out, Sasuke. I _know_ how much this means to you, so here's the challenge. Don't let _it_ control you. Show me that you're not so _weak_ that you have to rely on it."

"I accept!" Sasuke hissed, his dark gaze more of a glare as he held out his right hand to Kiyomiko and she held out hers to him. This was something she had learned.. a long time ago, in a life she would much rather forget. Uchihas' could not back down from a formal challenge when the honor of their clan was on the line, no matter what that challenge was. It had seemed foolish and reckless to her at the time, when she had first learned of it. Now, however, she was using it to her advantage and she clasped Sasuke's outstretched hand, her pale silver gaze locked with his ink-black eyes. They stayed like that for a moment, people glancing at them out of the corner of their eyes, before Sasuke pulled her close enough that he could whisper in her ear. "When this is all over, I want to fight you. I know you've been holding back this whole time, I could see that when you pushed us out of the way before that blast hit us yesterday. I want to test my skills against yours, Kiyomiko. Against your _true_ skills.."

"Fine." Kiyomiko answered quietly, her eyes still locked with Sasuke's as they cast each other sidelong stares, still holding each other's hands as they stood almost cheek-to-cheek. She knew that some may have gotten the wrong idea, thinking that she may have a relationship with Sasuke but.. To those who looked closely.. there was no love between them in that moment. They were two shinobi of equal standing. It was business, an arrangement... _A pact_. Sasuke didn't understand what he was asking, he had no idea what her true skills were, she'd been very careful to keep them hidden from everyone but.. she wouldn't back down from his challenge, either. When Sasuke released her hand, everything went back to some degree of normalcy, as the two of them returned to their places, eyes facing forward as if nothing had happened between them but she could still feel the tension rolling off of him in waves. He was angry and so was she, but not with him and she didn't show it, wouldn't show it. She wasn't angry with Sasuke, she was angry with her father for putting her in this situation. She had no choice now. She would fight.

"Ah.. Excuse me!" A familiar voice interupted her train of thought and Kiyomiko glanced to her side to see a single hand raised over the crowd of examinees, her pale silver eyes narrowing slightly with the recognition. It was Kabuto, standing there with an exhausted but friendly smile as everyone else turned to look at him. "I'd like to withdraw from the Exam, if that's alright. I'm afraid that I'm just too tired to keep going."

"Very well, Yakushi Kabuto, you may go. However, be sure to stop by the infirmary before you leave the tower, just to be safe." Hayate answered and Kabuto nodded, all eyes watching as the young man turned and left, walking out of the Hall through the massive archway in the back of the room, disappearing from sight as he rounded a corner towards the infirmary. _Just what is he playing at..? He seemed perfectly fine during the fight with those Amegakure fools. Was this part of a larger plan, or did he really not feel up to battling again..? Strange.._. Kiyomiko kept her thoughts to herself as she turned her eyes forward again just in time for Hayate to continue. "If there is no one else who wishes to leave, let's begin with the preliminary matches.. Ah, as we seem to have an uneven number, one of Konoha's Chunin has volunteered to act as a proxy opponent for the beginning match. Who would like to go first?"

"If no one else cares, I'd like to go first." Kiyomiko interjected calmly as she half-raised her hand, once again looking lazy and bored as she shifted her weight onto her right foot, her pale silver eyes half open as everyone turned to look at her, including the Hokage. From a tactical standpoint, this made the most sense. She had already recovered most of her energy just standing around like this, whereas the rest of her team was still exhausted. This would buy time for them to recover a little more, as well as the other teams. Hayate glanced over his shoulder at the Hokage, asking the older man a silent question and Kiyomiko waited patiently before the Hokage nodded once, giving the go-ahead.

"Very well." Hayate nodded, gesturing to the balconies on either side of the room. "Everyone should clear the floor until the matches have been concluded. The first match will be Konoha's Chunin Proxy against Kiyomiko."

Kiyomiko knew that no one would argue against it, it was a chance for everyone to gather information about her, her fighting techniques, strengths, weaknesses and whatnot. She knew that the only reason the Hokage allowed it was because even _he_ wanted more information about her abilities. _Hn. Won't they be surprised?_ She smirked slightly as she watched everyone, even her own team, ascend to the balconies on either side of the room, the right-most balcony filled with the Genin from Konoha while the left-most balcony had all of the Genin from other villages, their Jonin team leaders standing with them while the Hokage stood on the ground level, off to one side of the platform to watch while Hayate stood beside Kiyomiko in the center of the Hall. Behind her, against the back wall where the statue of the hands stood, a small click was heard as a panel slid into the wall and lowered, revealing a screen like a scoreboard system for each match. It began to display names, randomizing it every few seconds before it stopped, green letters glowing on the black screen, reading "_Kiyomiko vs. Proxy_". A figure appeared in the archway leading to the rest of the tower and Kiyomiko paused, recognizing the scent of cedars right away as she cast a sidelong stare at the approaching figure.

"Baka-sensei.. Why am I not surprised?" Kiyomiko sighed, seeing Iruka's eyes widen as he recognized her, the man coming to a stop in front of her while Hayate quirked a brow, looking between the two with a mildly puzzled expression. Iruka seemed at a loss for a moment as Kiyomiko stood still, her hands hidden in her sleeves as she returned his gaze with an unwavering silvery stare.

"Kiyomiko-chan? What are you doing down here? Where's my opponent?" Iruka stared down at her blankly as if he didn't quite understand the situation and Kiyomiko's eyebrow twitched once in annoyance. _Yep. I'm gunna enjoy this._ In one smooth motion, Kiyomiko raised a hand and pointed at the screen displaying the match-up information and Iruka's head tilted slightly as his eyes slowly followed her direction, looking up at the screen with a curious expression before he saw what she was pointing at. As soon as he read the glowing green text, his jaw dropped, his dark brown eyes as wide as serving plates. "No!.. You're my opponent?!"

"So it would seem." Kiyomiko replied dryly, letting her hand rest at her side, hidden in the long sleeve of her yukata once again as she stood in a casual stance. She could hear the annoyed whispers from the balconies and she sighed, opening one eye to look at Hayate with a bored expression. "It would appear that the masses are growing impatient. Let's just get on with it, hm?"

"Alright.." Hayate nodded, seemingly ignoring Iruka's shocked splutterings as he raised his hand in preparation to give the signal. Kiyomiko was watching both men closely, her hands already forming the necessary seals while they remained hidden in her sleeves.

"W-wait! This can't be right!" Iruka stammered, frantically looking between Hayate and Kiyomiko as he took a step back as if he were shocked. That expression only served to annoy Kiyomiko all that much more. "I was her _teacher_ in the Academy!"

"Yeah, for a whole week." Kiyomiko rolled her eyes with a bored sigh as she felt the chill of Yuki'a chakra melding with her own, pooling in her core as she began to form it into her lungs, allowing it to mingle with her breath. She'd already worked out a strategy against Iruka, she'd known what to do to defeat him if she ever needed to fight him. She would win and she let a sly smile appear on her face, shocking Iruka further. "_Ne_, you like playing games with your students, don't you?.."

"BEGIN!"

As soon as Hayate gave the signal, Kiyomiko jumped backwards away from Iruka as she brought her hands from her sleeves, revealing the already-formed seals for the jutsu she'd had prepared the whole time. With one great exhale, a massive cloud of cold, chakra-laced mist mingled with her breath and began to fill the Great Hall, claiming the entire room as her battlefield as her body completely disappeared into the thick fog. All color and sound was muted to black-and-white silence as Kiyomiko instinctively adopted her silent killing techniques, every trace of her presence fading into nothingness as if she had completely vanished altogether. She was in her element once again, unseen.

"_Ne, Iruka.. Let's play a game, hm? I'll give you three chances to find me. If you can't find me by the third try, you lose! Here, I'll start!_" Kiyomiko's voice floated through the fog, sounding amused and almost childish as Iruka stood in the center of the room, wrapped up in the mist, looking around wildly, frantically trying to locate the voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere. It was eerie, to say the least and Kiyomiko smirked as she started to sing, her voice quiet and haunting, almost otherworldly. "_Kagome, kagome.. Bird in a basket.._"

As soon as she'd sung the first verse, a soft click of Kiyomiko's geta echoed through the mist and Iruka whirled around to look behind him. A shadowy figure of a child stood in the mist, unmoving, and Iruka moved to strike, grabbing the figure's arm only to freeze in place. It was Kiyomiko, yes, but not the real one. The shadow clone smirked up at Iruka, shaking it's head as if it was disappointed before it disappeared with a soft pop, leaving the man stunned as the real Kiyomiko watched from a safe distance, perfectly silent. She could hear his heartbeat and his breathing. It was still too calm. He wouldn't slip up if he wasn't scared. Silently, Kiyomiko moved through the fog, knowing that only a handful of more experienced shinobi could still see her and she wasn't really trying to hide from all of them, what mattered was that she remained hidden from Iruka while she set everything up for the winning move.

"_Ohh! Too bad! That's one move down, two left. Maybe next time.._" Kiyomiko laughed softly, her voice melding with the fog once again as she came to a stop on Iruka's opposite side now, her pale silver eyes watching his every movement as another shadow clone got into position, waving it's arm so that it's sleeve fluttered, creating a whisper of fabric so quiet that Iruka nearly missed it as the shadow clone sang the next line to the song. "_When, oh when, will it escape? In the evening before dawn.._"

This time, Iruka relied on his speed, which had gotten rather impressive from chasing Naruto around all the time, to appear behind the obvious clone, catching it's shoulders from behind. The clone laughed, impishly, innocently, sounding creepy from how inappropriate it was for this situation, before it disappeared with a soft pop as well. All the while, Kiyomiko stayed on the move, circling around Iruka in perfect silence and she smirked to herself when two identical girls appeared on either side of Iruka, one on his left while the other stood on his right, both at the exact same distance. She could hear Iruka's pulse from where she stood, racing in his chest and her smirk widened slightly, mirrored by the shadow clones as they stood still in the fog, just _barely_ visible.

"_Two down, one more to go.._" Kiyomiko said quietly, her voice just above a whisper but it seemed loud compared to the silence that dominated the large fog-filled room. The mist was gradually beginning to overwhelm the room, getting thicker by the second, and a slight chill clung to the particles of water, a strange energy working through the perfectly white veil of fog as if moving independantly, of it's own will. Kiyomiko began to sing the second to last verse of the song, soft voices melding together to sound as eerie as possible, which didn't take much, echoing words seemingly coming from all directions as the two identical girls moved and sang in perfect unison. "_The Crane and the Turtle slipped.._"

She was used to this, this white world where all senses were dulled and she had overcome it long ago, sensing even the slightest traces of a hint within the mist as Iruka stood still, looking between the two perfectly identical figures that he could only just barely see. Kiyomiko almost chuckled. _Idiot.. Actually thinks he can tell the difference between them. Even though I've given him plenty of hints, he's still missing the point!_ And, to prove her right, there was sudden movement within the mist as two copies of Iruka appeared behind the identical girls at the same time, picking both of the girls up by their upper arms, both of Iruka's clones smirking as if they'd won the game.

"Don't forget, Kiyomiko-chan! I _was_ your teacher, after all! You're not the only one who can make clones!" Iruka chuckled, his arms folded across his chest as he looked between the two clones that held Kiyomiko's two clones. The two identical girls wore expressions of feigned surprise before they turned to look at each other through the fog and Iruka blinked for a moment, watching them before sly smiles appeared on their faces. The two girls moved in unison, going completely limp and causing Iruka's clones to drop them before they jumped up and flipped backwards hands-over-heels before coming to a stop ten feet away, their hands extended as a wave of senbon needles outright destroyed Iruka's clones in a series of fluid movements. At that exact second, both identical girls disappeared as well, leaving nothing but Iruka standing in the fog, seemingly alone. "_Eh?!_ Kiyomiko-chan?!"

"_Who is behind you now...?_" Kiyomiko's perfectly calm and eerie sing-song voice floated through the mist, directly from behind Iruka and the man froze in place, his dark brown eyes widening as the song came to an end. Iruka whirled around to see nothing but mist behind him and Kiyomiko could see the unease in his eyes. She knew that, the whole time, he'd sensed nothing. No killing intent, no scents, no sounds that she hadn't allowed him to hear, there was nothing that she couldn't control in her white world and he was beginning to realize that. "_You've lost, Baka-sensei._"

While Kiyomiko's voice was coming from _in front_ of Iruka, the mist around him and behind him began to act strangely, though it was so subtle that he didn't notice until it was already too late. Kiyomiko's body began to form out of the mist, particles of water gathering together to create her body, as if she had been made up of mist all along, standing beside Hayate as if she hadn't even moved to begin with. One small hand was raised slightly to the level of her shoulders, clasped around a thin tendril of coiling fog that moved almost like a rope. The thick mist continued to gather, particles of water and air pooling together and taking the shape of delicate chains that tightly coiled around Iruka's upper arms and torso, his wrists and hands, preventing him from performing any jutsus, and around his knees and ankles, preventing him from running. The chains were thin and delicate but Iruka couldn't break them or shrug them off no matter how hard he struggled. But there was something else that caused everyone in the room to go silent. The delicate chains that bound Iruka in place where shining and glittering like glass. They were made of crystal clear ice.

"Oh my. It appears that I've captured a prisoner. Whatever shall I do with him? Interrogate him for information, perhaps? Hm. Decisions, desicions.." Kiyomiko spoke dryly, one pale silver eye open as she scratched her head with her free hand, looking perfectly bored and unenthusiastic about winning the match against a Chunin as she looked down at Iruka. Lowering her hand, the delicate glittering ice chain twinkled and clinked together like tiny chimes when it was moved, Kiyomiko giving the end of it a slight tug as if to get Iruka's attention. "Don't bother trying to break these chains. They're not coming off unless I perform the release jutsu, though I suppose you _could_ wait for them to melt on their own.. though that would take close to thirty-six hours."

"The winner is Kiyomiko. She will be advancing to the Third Exam." Hayate announced, breaking the silence just before the counter on the score board stopped with a quiet beep. Only three minutes had passed since the match began and it was already over. With that, Kiyomiko brought her hands up and formed a strange seal with her delicate fingers and the ice chain cracked into millions of tiny pieces, shimmering like handfuls of glitter in the air before it disappeared. Iruka was free again and Kiyomiko swept passed him without saying a word as the scoreboard began to randomize names for the next match.

-(o.o)-

The preliminary matches ended quickly enough and the winners had been paired up to fight in the Third Exam, which was to take place in the massive Arena in the center of Konoha in exactly thirty days. Naruto had been paired up against Neji, Sasuke had been set to fight Gaara, and both of her teammates seemed absolutely _elated_. Kiyomiko, however, was considerably less enthusiastic. She was set to fight Dosu, the older boy from the Sound village with the metal arm. She thought that was rather ironic but it was probably just going to be yet another tedious fight. Now, however, Kiyomiko was sitting on the floor in the center of her empty sitting room with a blank expression as she stared down at the hardwood floorboards. She was wearing her perfectly white yukata with the long sleeves that ended at her knees, bandages around her calves, forearms and neck, her geta and her black canvas knapsack sitting beside her.

The early afternoon sunlight was muted by the overcast sky, thick grey clouds hanging low overhead as a light rain fell over the village, abnormally chilly for mid-spring, the sound of the falling rain drowning out everything else as it filtered into her dark and empty apartment. Once again, every window was open, even the sliding glass balcony doors were opened fully, a slight breeze filtering through the apartment as Kiyomiko sat still, her eyes lowered to her forehead protector, neatly laid out on the floor in front of her. She had already fully recovered from her battle with her father, she had healed her wounds completely overnight and regained her chakra and now she was waiting for what she already knew was coming. She'd been sitting there, in her empty apartment, since early that morning, perfectly still and silent. And then.. there it was. The scent of a summer thunderstorm on the cool breeze.

"You still haven't bought any furniture, huh?" Kakashi's voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko raised her silvery gaze to look at the figure walking into her apartment from her balcony, his posture casual with his hands stuffed into his pockets but she noticed how his lazy tone lacked it's usual wry mirth. "You really should get a couch or something. It would be more comfortable than sitting on the floor, don't you think?"

"Why am I not surprised that you know my apartment was empty?" Kiyomiko sighed quietly, her tone missing it's usual sarcastic bite as she picked up her forehead protector and tied it around her bandaged neck before she stood, gathering up her knapsack as she slipped her feet into her geta. Kakashi watched her quietly, standing just inside the balcony door as she settled her knapsack onto her back, pulling her long black hair up into a boyish ponytail that hung down to the swell of her hips, her messy bangs tamed and secured on either side of her face by silver tube-like clasps like Haku's. After a minute, Kiyomiko stopped and looked up at Kakashi with a blank expression, her tone flat and quiet, as if she wasn't really there. "I suppose it's time then, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's time. We're supposed to meet the Hokage and a number of Konoha's Jonins in a few minutes." Kakashi answered with an almost solemn expression as he gestured towards the door. Kiyomiko nodded once in understanding and the Jonin stepped aside as she walked out onto the balcony and into the light, cold rain, hopping up onto the railing as Kakashi followed behind her.

Kiyomiko never looked back as she left her apartment, dropping from the railing of the fifth story balcony and onto the red tile roof next door, Kakashi following her as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop through the rain, heading towards the Hokage's tower near the Academy. There was hardly anyone out on the street that day, everyone taking shelter from the rain but Kiyomiko didn't mind it. If anything, the cold rain and the light breeze on her face gave her some small amount of comfort. Kiyomiko and Kakashi travelled the three blocks in silence, the quiet only broken by the sound of the rain and the soft, monotone click of her geta across the rooftops until they both dropped onto the dirt road in front of the tower, the carved faces of the previous Hokages looking down at her with almost ominous and foreboding expressions. Still, Kiyomiko said nothing, expressed nothing, _felt_ nothing as Kakashi walked ahead and led her into the tower.

Once inside, Kakashi led her down a series of corridors and hallways until they came to a stop in front of a large and grand archway. The scents of at least a dozen people were coming through the archway, along with a thin haze of tobacco smoke, an expensive brand that Kiyomiko remembered as the Hokage's favorite. Kakashi gestured to one of the wooden chairs lined up along the wall beside the archway and Kiyomiko sat down in one of them, watching as the Jonin disappeared through the curtained archway with a slightly slower pace than before. She waited, drawing her knees up to her chest in the chair as she stared down at the dark-stained hardwood floor, deciphering the scents of the people around her. Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Kurenai, Asuma, Shikamaru's father Shikaku, Ino's father Inoichi and of course the Hokage and Kakashi. She could sense a few others lingering a safe distance away and she assumed they were just ANBU, sent to strategic places around the tower to act as guards, and she summarily dismissed them.

"You're telling me that not one but _two_ children recieved a curse mark in the same night?!" Anko's voice filtered out through the heavy curtain and Kiyomiko paused, listening. "But, that can't be right! The Curse Seal has a nine-to-one chance of _killing_ whoever's infected with it!"

"Yes, Anko. The second was a young girl who wasn't born in Konoha." The Hokage answered, his voice deceptively calm compared to Anko's panic-tinged voice. "It was the same girl that you spoke to me about during the Second Exam, the one you told me approached you beforehand."

"One of my students. Her name is Kiyomiko." Kakashi interjected and Kiyomiko closed her pale silver eyes, focusing on her hearing instead. When her eyes were closed and she concentrated, she could hear the steady thumping of the heartbeats in the next room. "She's a member of Team Seven, along with Uchiha Sasuke. Hokage-sama, when Kiyomiko first arrived in Konoha, you tasked me with locating her and then later, you asked me to watch out for her while still gathering information about her history. I'm afraid that she is much smarter than I initially gave her credit for and she was aware of this arrangement the whole time, since the day I was assigned as the leader of Team Seven. However, despite knowing my secondary objective, she still confided in me regardless, despite not completely trusting me."

"And what have you learned?" The Hokage asked, his voice level and calm.

"As you stated before, Hokage-sama, there were many things that alluded to her.. Family. Her appearance, for one. Her skills, for another.." Kakashi said gently, sounding a little more diplomatic than normal, as if he were trying to search for the right words. "At first, she would never mention her past or who she was related to, despite a few incidents in which I had to personally question.. However, just before the Preliminaries, she.. confirmed your suspicions.. Kiyomiko is.. the daughter of Orochimaru..."

"What..?" Anko gasped, her voice wavering from shock, as if she'd just been slapped in the face or had the wind knocked out of her and Kiyomiko felt a painful clench in her chest, causing her to fight back a slight wince. "H-his daughter..?!"

"Wait a second! We _are_ talking about the same Kiyomiko, right?!" Asuma's voice rose slightly, sounding blatantly surprised. "Two of my students, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji, are always talking about her! She's one of their friends! I've seen the girl myself!"

"All of my students, as well. Inazuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino all consider Kiyomiko to be a close friend." Kurenai spoke up softly and Kiyomiko could hear the frown in the woman's voice. "This is all a little hard to believe, Hokage-sama.."

"How do we know that she can be trusted?" Ibiki's voice rose up above the others and the room went silent for a moment as the man continued. "Hokage-sama, if she really is related to Orochimaru, or at least _thinks_ she is.. She could have been sent here to gather information about the village for Orochimaru. She could have even told him about the Uchiha boy in the first place. Don't you think the timing is a little too convenient?"

"Given what she's told me about her relationship with Orochimaru, I _highly_ doubt that's the case, Ibiki. While I may not be up to par with Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force, I'd like to think that my ANBU training has allowed me _some_ degree of sensing out the truth, even without the use of my sharingan." Kakashi answered rather bluntly before he sighed, sounding exhausted before his tone softened somewhat. "I'm sorry, Ibiki, but.. When she confided in me, she was so terrified that she was shaking and she could barely stand. There was no way she could have been faking that reaction."

"Kakashi.. It sounds as though there's something you're not saying." The Hokage interjected calmly and Kiyomiko flinched, knowing where the conversation was heading from the sinking feeling she had. "Did something else happen?"

"Unfortunately, yes.. However, I believe that Kiyomiko should tell you, in her own words.." Kakashi answered and Kiyomiko stood soundlessly, recognizing her cue. Her limbs were acting strangely, as if they were made out of heavy rubber instead of flesh and bone and she frowned down at her body as she opened her normally pale silver eyes, now turned a flat grey like the overcast sky outside. Regardless, she forced herself to move. "Kiyomiko-"

"I'm right here, Kakashi." Kiyomiko said quietly as she stepped through the archway and into the view of the Hokage and all of the Jonins inside the large room. Large was an understatenent, the room was massive, white stone floors with a red and gold carpet running down the center towards a raised floor where the Hokage sat on a large sofa behind an ornately-carved wooden desk. The room was well-lit and that made Kiyomiko mildly uncomfortable, sage-green silk curtains hanging along the walls while the Jonins parted on either side of the carpet, all eyes turning to Kiyomiko with various looks of surprise and unease. She walked down the center of the carpet and came to a stop beside Kakashi, maintaining a respectful distance from the Hokage, her pupil-less grey eyes looking down at the floor, her head lowered slightly. She looked like a girl condemned.

"Everyone, I would like to formally introduce you to Kiyomiko." Kakashi began, resting a hand on Kiyomiko's shoulder and she visibly flinched at the contact but she didn't pull away like Kakashi had probably been expecting, judging by the hesitancy of his actions. It was too bright and the air felt thick here, as if it were threatening to smother her, the smoke from the Hokage's pipe and the barrage of mingling scents making it worse but she didn't say anything about it. "Kiyomiko, this is-"

"Introductions aren't necessary, Kakashi. I know everyone here..." Kiyomiko answered quietly, her voice and expression devoid of emotion. She was like a living doll, some detached and unfeeling thing that seemed terribly cold and far away, removed from the world around her. She stood out like a single black and white image surrounded by the golden glow of the candles and lights around her but it was like the golden light couldn't touch her at all, no color could reach her or stain her image. "...And they all know me."

"S-so it's true then.. I've never seen her without a mask on, but she looks so much like him!" Anko breathed, her lavender eyes wide as she stared at Kiyomiko, much like the others were doing as well, now that they knew of the connection. "It's like I'm looking at a picture of him when he was a child!"

"Of course, I look like him, Anko-aneue. I'm his daughter, after all. And to answer your previous statement, I guess I was able to sort of buck the nine-to-one odds of dying from recieving the Curse Seal because I'm directly related to it's creator." Kiyomiko sighed softly as she reached up to her hair, her movements slow and deliberate so she wouldn't startle anyone watching her as she pulled the black leather cord. Her long black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall of ink-black silk threads, darker than the deepest shadows of a moonless night yet still reflecting the light around her like a subtle laquer. Once her hair was down, Kiyomiko swept her bangs to the side of her face and closed her eyes, becoming the very image of Orochimaru as a child for all of them to see. Her hair was longer, hanging down to the swell of her hips and her face was round whereas Orochimaru's was more oval, her eyes were the same shape but her brow was much softer, her cheekbones and chin were nowhere near as angular and her nose was smaller and more feminine, more like a button instead of a sharp plane like his was. She was distinctly female, her features far more delicate and refined, almost cherubic in comparison, which Kiyomiko had always thought was rather ironic, considering she may as well have been the daughter of a shinigami.

"Kiyomiko, I realize now that in the four months that you have lived in Konoha, you have never once looked directly at me. You have always kept your gaze lowered or you look to one side or another.." The Hokage's even and calm voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko paused, listening to the judicious and rational way in which he spoke. "Would you open your eyes and look up at me now?"

"H-hai.. Hokage-sama.." Kiyomiko answered quietly, slowly opening her flat grey eyes and almost apprehensively raising her gaze to look up at the Hokage until she met his eyes and paused. They stared at each other for what felt like an enternity when only mere seconds had passed, neither of them saying a word as the Jonins looked on. She could tell that he was thinking about something, she could see the flickers of emotion in his eyes before something akin to recognition or realization appeared on his features only to be erased a fraction of a second later as the man hid his true emotions and thoughts like a seasoned general.

"Hm.. You're looking at me with that same timid and questioning gaze that Orochimaru often had when he was still in the Academy." The Hokage spoke finally and Kiyomiko's eyes immediately shot back down to look at the floor, assuming that it was safe to look away. The elder man still watched her, however, his weathered features studious and observant. She couldn't blame him for being worried. She was the child of a traiter, a rogue ninja that placed a deep and painful scar on the history of the village, it was only natural to be wary of her, despite her age. "Though, there are many differences between you. Your eyes are completely different from his. Tell me. What do you know of your mother?"

"I'm afraid that I don't know anything about my mother." Kiyomiko answered honestly, her voice soft and small, a flicker of a slight frown appearing on her youthful features. "I don't have any memory of her at all. All I know is what I was told, that she died giving birth to me. However, considering the source of that information, I'm not sure if I trust it. Though, I only have one other thing to go by.. When I was four years old, my father gave me a fan to train with.. He said that it had belonged to my mother, that it was somehow fitting that I picked it out of a whole room filled with different kinds of weapons.. I've had it with me every day since then."

As she spoke, Kiyomiko slipped her black canvas knapsack off of her back and handed it to Kakashi, giving him a gesture of go ahead to open her bag, something no one in Team Seven had ever been allowed to do before and Kakashi seemed to realize the meaning behind it. It was better that he did it instead of her, she could tell that Ibiki and Anko were getting anxious, though they hid it as well as could be expected. Kakashi accepted the bag and set it on the floor in front of him, kneeling down before he opened it and began removing things from the bag, lining them all up neatly on the faded red carpet in front of him. There was a fire kit with flint and dry tinder, a startlingly extensive and well stocked field medic kit, a small canvas pouch filled with clearly labelled vials of various poisons and powders, a large white linen bag of various colored food pills that seemed to be made by hand and even a simple change of clothes and rolls of fresh white linen bandages. As if to add to the lunacy of fitting so much into such a small bag, Kakashi retrieved a pair of scrolls from a small pocket within the knapsack and held them up. One was black with a white circle painted on a grey band around the center while the other was white with a black circle painted on the grey band.

"No, wait! Kakashi, my fan should be in the bottom of my knapsack, you don't have to open those! I keep my-" Kiyomiko was interrupted by a series of soft pops and she fell silent, hanging her head dejectedly as a bright blush formed across her cheeks, her voice turning into a sullen groan mid-sentence. "-weapons in those.."

Kiyomiko just stood there with her head lowered and her hands at her sides as the smoke cleared, Kakashi sitting before the two open scrolls as a stunned silence reigned. The scrolls had acted as containers for Kiyomiko's vast collection of various weapons, her unusual hobby being brought to light before she could stop it, the scrolls had been unrolled, revealing the intricately painted circular seals with an item sitting harmlessly atop each seal. Sitting neatly lined up along the white scroll was a rather fancy weapon cleaning kit that seemed to make Ibiki slightly jealous, a small stack of black-covered sketchbooks with different symbols for the chakra nature types written on each of the covers, a large collection of pencils and pens in a variety of colors, even a few wax models of weapons that no one had ever seen before. On the black scroll was a large collection of custom-made jagged kunai that seemed to make Anko envious, five large spools of steel wire complete with claw-shaped metal rings that fit over the fingers like thimbles to guide the wires like puppet-strings and even a large collection of silver senbon needles stored in a thin wooden rack with a quick-release lid, a pair of lightweight fabric panels rolled up beside them, cut in the exact size and shape of Kiyomiko's yukata sleeves as if to fit inside them.

"Kiyomiko.. You were carrying all of this with you..?" Kakashi breathed, his visible eye wide as he blinked, looking back and forth between the items lined up on the scrolls and his student, the slender girl looking more than a little humiliated as a remarkably uncharacteristic and girly blush raged across her cheeks. "You had all of this stuff with you, the whole time?"

"Of course I did, _Baka_.. I'm not just gunna leave it all in my apartment for _anyone_ to find.. It's too embarrassing." Kiyomiko mumbled, her cheeks puffing out slightly as if she were pouting like a child, avoiding everyone's surprised stares and folding her arms across her chest, her weight shifting to her right foot. "I keep it all in my knapsack, sealed up in those scrolls so no one would find out about my hobby.. This is what I do for fun.. To stay sane, like you do with those stupid "romance" novels.. I collect and design weapons.."

"This is a _hobby_..?" Asuma blinked, his eyes wide as he looked through the pages of one of Kiyomiko's black-covered sketchbooks on bladed weapons she'd designed for people with Wind-nature chakra, Kurenai looking over his shoulder with a similar expression. "Whoa.. I've never seen something so.. _detailed_ before.. Kurenai, look, this even shows the weapon from different angles, listing off the steps on how to make it! And there are diagrams on the back of the page showing how to use it, right down to how to best use it when applying nature chakra! And the book is completely full!"

"Oh, for the love of-!" Kiyomiko bit down on her tongue to keep herself from cursing in front of the Hokage, though it was obvious by her expression that she was thinking of some rather _colorful_ expletives as she walked over to her belongings and began sealing them away again, batting Asuma away from her sketchbooks almost like a cat defending it's toys, before rolling up the scrolls and packing away her things into her knapsack again. Once everything was picked up, Kiyomiko reached into her bag and pulled out her fan, thrusting it into Kakashi's hands as she stood up and folded her arms across her chest. This was the first time that Kakashi had ever seen her visibly cross, not hidden behind a mask or spaced out like she usually pretended she was, the girl currently glaring death and daggers at an open space of wall as if she wanted to set it ablaze. At least the Hokage seemed mildly amused.

"Hokage-sama, there is something that you should know before we proceed any further.." Kakashi interjected rather diplomatically as he held Kiyomiko's fan in one hand, not looking at it. The shock of Kiyomiko's vast weapons collection seemed to fade as all eyes turned to Kakashi while he turned to look at Kiyomiko. She froze, all anger draining from her gaze as a flicker of fear appeared, the girl turning to look up at Kakashi with a furrowed brow and a frown. "Kiyomiko.. It's alright, remember?"

"It's _not_ alright, Kakashi! I can't just _show him_! Not with everyone in the room! Not when I've been trained to keep it a secret! What kind of reaction are you expecting?! _Oh, look what you can do, congratulations, here have some cuddles and bunnies?!_" Kiyomiko hissed back in a hushed tone as she gripped her upper arms, like she was trying to hug herself. "This is my _life_ we're talking about here! It's not something I can just _unlearn_!"

"Kiyomiko!"

"Ngh.. _Fine!_ But it's not my fault if everyone freaks out!" Kiyomiko snapped, seeming visibly distressed by something as Kakashi walked up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her. She sighed, looking up at him for a second before she lowered her gaze to the floor again, closing her eyes. _This is a bad idea, this is a very bad idea, this is going to suuuuck! Okay, just get it over with already._ Kiyomiko bit down on her lower lip before she opened her eyes again, her normally pale silver now turned to a blood red with three perfectly black tomoe in each eye, her gaze unwavering and locked on the faded red carpet as if her very life depended on knowing it's threadcount. Her voice was little more than a weak mumble. "There.. Happy now, ya freakin' one-eyed scarecrow?"

"I would be happier if you had just trusted me in the first place, but I suppose I can't complain." Kakashi replied with an exhausted sigh as the tension in the room grew so thick that it could have been cut by a knife, the realization slowly sinking in as the Jonins and the Hokage looked down at the small girl before them. Kakashi turned to look up at the Hokage with an almost somber tone in his voice as he continued. "As you can see, Hokage-sama.. Kiyomiko has fully-formed Sharingan."

"I've had it for as long as I can remember.." Kiyomiko spoke up, her voice wavering slightly as she stared down at the floor with steady gaze, trying to fight the urge to hide behind Kakashi as a few people stepped closer to get a better look at her. "According to my fath- Orochimaru.. it became fully formed when I was five.. I had been training in taijutsu and various weapons every night for two years by then and one day it just... happened.. I was able to see chakra, track fast movements and even mimic others.. That was when he started training me in ninjutsu, saying that he'd been waiting for my eyes to mature so that I would learn faster, memorize the techniques he taught me at a glance.."

"Even Uchiha Itachi, the best of the clan, couldn't master his sharingan until he was ten years old.. To master it at five years old is considered to be.. impossible!" Anko breathed, her lavender eyes wide as she stared down at Kiyomiko, her voice wavering with something akin to fear and unease. "Just what kind of training did Orochimaru have you doing?!"

"I'll leave that to your imagination." Kiyomiko answered before she felt Kakashi's hand squeeze her shoulder a little and she flinched. Not because it hurt, but because she knew he was scolding her for not being forthcoming. "Fine.. He'd keep prisoners.. test subjects.. I never asked who they were, mostly because I never cared when I was really young, I didn't know any better until later.. They were mostly mercenaries that had angered him somehow.. I don't know.. But.. He would lock me up in the chamber where all the cells were and then open all the cell doors.. That started around the time I turned four and weakness was never an option. His training was "Learn fast and defend yourself or die.".. After that, it became less about defending myself and more about killing.. They were target practice.. Some of the deepest pits of Hell would have seemed like a five-star resort in comparison but I still did it anyway.. Back then, I still loved him as my father. I wanted nothing more than to make him happy and be with him forever. I just.. wanted my father's love.."

"And what changed that?" The Hokage asked, his expression and tone slightly more serious than before while the rest of the people in the room were looking down at her with shock and regret, even Kakashi was staring down at her in surprise, despite the fact that he already knew she had blood on her hands when she was three years old. Kiyomiko's grip on her upper arms tightened at the Hokage's question as she closed her eyes, biting down on her lower lip until a small drop of blood trickled onto her chin.

_I don't want to remember! Don't make me remember! Don't make me say it!_

"I wasn't the only kid he kept.. He would always say the Blood Mist had the right idea for their graduation exams.." Kiyomiko's tone lowered as her eyes squeezed shut as if she were in pain, a distinctive chill forming around her as she gripped her upper arms tighter but still.. she couldn't stop the words. "He took care of me, trained me, watched over me.. Then one day he told me that it was my birthday, something I had _never_ heard of before that, that he was so proud of me, that he loved me and that he was going to give me a gift. He took me somewhere, to one of the underground compounds that I'd never been to before and there were all these kids I'd never seen before.. He stuck us all in a large room and said we had to fight each other until only one of us remained, that the last child standing would be worthy of serving him."

"Kiyomiko.. You didn't-!"

"_You_ started this, Kakashi! Now you have to listen!" Kiyomiko snapped, turning a glare up at Kakashi but there was no anger directed at him, it was all directed at herself and mingled with the pain in her eyes as she slapped his hand off of her shoulder and took a few steps away from him. "I did it..! Gods be _damned_, I did whatever that man wanted! I was the last one out of at least three hundred children just like me and _I lost myself_ because of what I've done! After it was over and everything went quiet, I went to find my father and tell him that I'd won.. I went outside where he was waiting for me but when I got there, instead of praising me like I thought he would, he started attacking me! I thought that my own father was trying to kill me so I ran! You've seen the scars yourself, Kakashi! He nearly succeeded in killing me!"

Everyone watched her as she spoke, her eyes returning to the hard silver like a glinting blade as her sharingan faded, her voice wavering as she reached up to the bandages that covered her neck and ripped them off, revealing the scars and the curse mark left behind by Orochimaru. Scraps of white linen fluttered down to the floor as Kiyomiko swept her hair aside so everyone could see her scars clearly, old scars left behind by the two senbon needles, a mere inch away from her jugular vein, and new scars left behind by Orochimaru's fangs in almost the exact same place. Beneath the scars were two black tomoe sitting in opposition like a pure black yin-yang design against her pure white skin just above her collarbone. She couldn't hide it now, not when her hand had been forced and everything was pouring out into the open after being locked up inside for so long, all her masks, rehearsed quips and conditioned responses failing her once again, leaving behind nothing but herself, a scared and angry girl, trembling from the force of her emotions.

"I don't know how I managed to get away from him but ever since then, I've been alone, running and hiding like the coward I am. I've been keeping everyone and everything at a distance because it's safer for _them_ if they don't get too close. I've been surviving with the sole purpose that I may one day be strong enough to kill Orochimaru for what he's done, what he's _still_ doing. _That's_ why I've been travelling from village to village, trying to get stronger so that no one else has to go through this kind of terrible agony!" Kiyomiko's voice had turned rough and hoarse, her throat raw as tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she forced them back as she lowered her head, her hands dropping to her sides as her hair fell back around her neck. Everyone in the room remained silent and to all of them, she looked defeated, like she'd lost everything that made her human. "I barely eat.. I can't sleep because of the nightmares.. I know there's something wrong with me.. I already know I'm a monster.. I have to force myself to get up in the morning and pretend everything is okay, hide everything I feel behind a mask.. I have to live with the memories of the sins I've committed in _his_ name.."

"Child, what is it that you think will happen here today?" The Hokage spoke up after a few minutes of silence, his tone betraying nothing of what he was feeling as he brought his lit pipe up to his lips and Kiyomiko stared down at the floor once again, her head lowered and unmoving. "What do you think we are considering?"

"Whether I am a danger to the village or not." Kiyomiko answered quietly. "Hokage-sama.. You can do whatever you think is best.. If you think I'm truely a danger to the village, go ahead and lock me up, throw away the key.. You can even kill me if you that that would help.. Honestly, you'd be doing me a favor. Whatever you decide to do with me is fine.. Kakashi already knows to tell my friends that I just got bored of Konoha and decided to leave.. No one would look for me and no one would get hurt by knowing the truth of who I really am.. And you don't have to worry about me.. I don't care what happens to me anymore.. I've already made my peace a long time ago."

There was silence, deafening and smothering, and Kiyomiko was grateful for it. She just stood there, still as can be, as she listened to the heartbeats of those around her, the breathing and the smouldering embers in the Hokage's pipe as he took a drag from it. She was so tired. Tired of running, tired of hiding, tired of fighting. If she could get away with it, she'd just curl up right where she stood and go to sleep.. If it weren't for the fear of the nightmares that she knew would visit her, plague her mind no matter what she did. She was exhausted because she had spoken the truth for the first time in what felt like forever, maybe even the first time since she'd escaped from her father, without having to think up any lies or cover stories to protect herself. Still, silence and Kiyomiko closed her eyes and listened to it, feeling the stares of everyone in the room as the Hokage thought through the flood of information to decide what to do with her. Whatever happened to her.. she didn't care. Her friends would be safe and unaware, just like she wanted. She thought of them, their faces.. Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru, Shino, Hinata, even Lee, Sasuke and Sakura.. They were all idiots.. but she cared for them regardless. Maybe she was an idiot too.. _Oh well_.. Kiyomiko couldn't help the tear that escaped and rolled down her cheek or the traces of a sad smile that appeared on her youthful face. _I can't run anymore.. I'm too damn tired.. Looks like I'll be coming to visit sooner than I thought, ne Haku, Zabuza-san?_

"I think.. that's enough for now." The Hokage sighed finally, his tone betraying his exhaustion as he set his pipe down in a tray in front of him, standing up and walking around his large desk to stand in front of Kiyomiko. She didn't move, her head down and her hands at her sides as she waited, listened, just like everyone else around her. And then, all of a sudden, she felt a gentle hand rest on the top of her head and she gasped, looking up to see the Hokage looking back down at her with a small smile on his weathered face. "That's enough, child. You're tired, aren't you? It's alright now. You can rest."

"Eh..?" Kiyomiko breathed, her eyes wide as more tears spilled down her cheeks, unable to believe what she was hearing as the Hokage just smiled down at her with such a kindness in his voice that her heart clenched in her chest like someone had just grabbed it. What was he saying? Was he speaking in a different language or something? Was she dreaming? Was he just some sadistic old fool, trying to give her hope before someone stabbed her in the back? No.. There was.. no malice, no killing intent, not even anger or annoyance.. He was.. being honest!

"For now, you will remain in the village and continue on with your daily life. However, I would like a few tests done on your blood to make sure that you truely are Orochimaru's child, though there is little doubt, but maybe we can find out the identity of your mother." The Hokage continued, still smiling down at her as she looked up at him with wide, watery silver eyes. "Of course, as a precaution, I will have to assign an ANBU team to watch you until we recieve the results of the test.. Once we have a better idea of who your parents are, we'll come to a decision. Alright?"

"H-hai.. Hokage-sama.." Kiyomiko mumbled numbly, managing a weak nod as the Hokage lifted his hand from her head to look around at the Jonins under his command, all of them either looking shocked or slightly smiling and nodding in agreement and understanding. It was so surreal, she felt as if she were dreaming as Kakashi took her shoulders and led her from the room and back into the large corridor. Was this real..?

Kiyomiko remained silent as Kakashi led her into what she could only assume was a small waiting room, barely aware of her surroundings as she sat down in a wooden chair, the Jonin sitting down in a chair beside her. The room was small, blessedly dimly-lit and warm, without any windows and only a single door, the furniture worn and the colors muted, although somewhat darkened by the comforting shadows. Somewhere in her mind, Kiyomiko registered that Kakashi had probably chosen to wait in this room for a reason but she couldn't quite think that thought to completion at the moment. She could hear the world around her, a pen scratching over paper, books being set on shelves, scrolls being rolled up, people calmly walking down the halls and talking about their day as if everything was fine and normal..

After a few minutes of waiting, a young woman wearing a med-nin outfit walked into the room, carrying a metal tray with three large syringes neatly lined up on a thin cloth. Almost reflexively, Kiyomiko pushed up her sleeve and held out her arm as the woman sat down on a stool in front of her, seeming a little surprised by how calm Kiyomiko was being when most children her age hated needles, or at least disliked them enough to complain, but Kiyomiko said nothing as the woman slipped the needle into a vein and began drawing blood into the syringe, one after another until all three had been filled. When the woman was done, she covered the filled syringes with the thin white cloth before she stood and turned, leaving the small room a second later, though she cast an almost puzzled look back at Kiyomiko to see that the girl was already adjusting the bandages over her forearm to cover the tiny pin-prick

With her meeting with the Hokage over and her blood drawn for testing, Kiyomiko was feeling a little woozy from the blood-loss and emotional roller-coaster but she hid it well as she stood and picked up her knapsack, Kakashi walking her out of the tower and back towards her apartment. The sun was beginning to set and the rainclouds were tinted orange and purple as a cold and gentle breeze brought with it the scents of six persuers, an ANBU team following after Kiyomiko, and Kakashi seemed to know, on some level, that she noticed them, though he didn't say anything as he walked her up to her apartment and said goodbye at her door. Now back in her empty apartment, Kiyomiko looked around with a blank expression, all of the windows and the balcony door still open as the sound of the soft rain filtered in. Once again, Kiyomiko set down her things and laid down on the hardwood floor in the center of her sitting room, curling up on her side as she rested her head on her forearm, looking out onto her balcony as she just let her mind go.

She'd had enough of thinking for the day anyway.

-(o.o)-

The next day, Kiyomiko was standing in a quiet training area near the outskirts of the village, wearing as little as she dared, which didn't account for much. She was wearing a loose short-sleeved dress made out of a light and breathable grey fabric that slipped down on her shoulders and hung down to her thighs, with a pair of shorts that gathered at her knees, made out of an airy charcoal grey fabric. Her long black hair had been pulled up into a messy ponytail and her forehead protector was acting as a headband like Sakura's, her long bangs clasped by small silver tubes on either side of her face like Haku's. Instead of being covered by bandages, like she normally was, Kiyomiko only wore a thin black cloth band around her neck, wide enough to cover her scars and the curse mark. It felt a little weird, like she wasn't wearing enough to cover her neck, but she was glad for it now. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the cicadas were buzzing and it was hot. _Damn hot_.

Kiyomiko hated heat with a seething and primal passion. She hated summer, hated deserts, hated anything without an ample supply of water, it was just a part of who she was. Heat sapped her of her strength and made it uncomfortable to move, turning her into the female equivalent of Shikamaru when he was being super lazy. It wasn't even summer yet and she already felt like she was dying even while she was preparing for the inevitable, stocking up on bottled water and ice packs, paying up her water bill months ahead of time when she knew the only reprieve she would get was when she was soaking in her bathtub or in a nearby river or lake. It was truely pathetic. Dragging herself towards the scent of fresh water, Kiyomiko sighed softly when a small river appeared between the trees and she came to a stop on the riverbank just long enough to drop her knapsack and kunai pouch on a nearby rock. She left her forehead protector on out of habit. After all, the Chunin Exams were still on and more foreign shinobi kept pouring into the village daily. She didn't want to be confused for a helpless civilian, that would just be annoying. Walking over towards the river, Kiyomiko kicked off her geta and stepped onto the surface of the water, her bare feet making small ripples. Once she reached the center of it, however, she turned, gave a soft sigh before she let her chakra taper off and she fell backwards into the river, clothes and all.

"_Feeling better now?_" Yuki's mildly amused voice asked in her mind and Kiyomiko looked up at the sky, her pale silver eyes almost reflecting the blue and white of the fluffy clouds as her body floated on the surface of the cool, clear river water.

"_Yes. Now would you be so kind as to remind me why I'm here, in the sunlight, when I could be laying on the floor of my sitting room?_" Kiyomiko thought dryly, her mental voice sounding exhausted even to herself. "_You made me leave the shelter of my apartment at dawn, go to the market and buy a dozen training dummies, seal them all in a scroll and then walk out here to the ass-end of nowhere.. What's up?_"

"_Charming as ever, I see._" Yuki's voice sighed and Kiyomiko rolled her eyes, stretching out in the water before she let herself go under, her pale silver eyes open as she held her breath far longer than anyone logically should be able to. As Kiyomiko resurfaced, Yuki continued. "_I thought that it might be about time to show you how to use one of my abilities at will. Remember when you first arrived in the Land of Waves and you tried to warn Kakashi about the water prison before he got thrown into it anyway? Remember when Zabuza kicked you away like you were nothing and the ice that covered your torso, keeping your ribs intact?_"

"_Oh, that's so cute. You're starting to pick up on my sarcasm. About time. Only took thirteen years to finally sink into that frozen skull of yours._" Kiyomiko crooned in her mind, a slight smirk appearing on her face as she hauled herself out of the water and waded up onto the riverbank, gracelessly flopping down onto the rock beside her knapsack with a soft sigh. "_Yes, yes. I remember the ice. That little encounter with Zabuza wasn't the first time you've used it to protect me, was it?_"

"_No.. I've used it to protect you once before.. But that's not the point of this conversation, you know. I want to teach you how to control it, call upon it at will and use it to protect yourself when you fight._" Yuki replied a little faster than normal and Kiyomiko quirked a brow before shrugging it off, listening to the spirit within her. "_You've made a significant amount of progess, adapting to my chakra. With meditation and manipulation alone, you've already learned how to control my chakra as if it were your own and it's been less than a week since I had to seal away Orochimaru's curse mark._"

"_It helps that I don't really sleep, doesn't it?_" Kiyomiko snarked in her mind as she sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as her long, wet bangs hung down to brush across her legs, cold water trickling down onto the pebbles that lined the riverbank. "_Alright, I'm done being bratty for now. What do you need me to do?_"

"_Use your sharingan and watch carefully. I'm going to form the ice around your arm. I'm only going to do it once, so you're on your own after that._" Yuki replied and Kiyomiko obeyed, messing up her bangs to cover her eyes from the rest of the world and the ANBU she knew were watching, activating her sharingan and resting her right forearm over her knees in front of her. Kiyomiko watched every movement, every miniscule twitch of her arm with her blood red eyes, memorizing every trickle of water, every droplet that gravity caught, sliding across her pure white skin. Gradually, the movement of the water on her arm began to slow as a chill formed in the air around her, growing colder and colder, though Kiyomiko barely noticed it as the frozen chakra within her began to stir and mass in the skin of her forearm on it's own.

Frost slowly began to form across her skin and Kiyomiko quirked a brow in mild interest as she watched that frost. It felt like ants crawling across her skin, though it was more like tiny acupuncture needles, thousands of them, just prickling across the skin without breaking it. It didn't hurt, it just felt weird, like her arm had fallen asleep or something. After a while, the frost began to grow thicker and thicker until it turned into ice, slowly crawling across the pure white skin of her forearm and still, Kiyomiko watched as the ice coated her arm from her elbow to her fingertips, seemingly coming _out_ of her skin instead of forming around it. It was actually pretty cool, no pun intended. In reality, the ice wasn't cold at all, just like she remembered when the ice had been used to protect her during her little encounter with Zabuza. It _was_ ice, yes, but it wasn't cold. It was kind of refreshing, actually, like an ice pack on a hot summer day. Though, Kiyomiko knew that it would likely be cold to anyone else who touched it. _She_ was the strange one. Cold barely affected her anymore, and that was all thanks to Yuki. After a few minutes, the ice began to completely encase her forearm and Kiyomiko smirked at it slightly. The ice was thin and perfectly clear, like a transparent laquer had been painted over her skin, glittering in the sunlight, but it was also incredibly hard at the same time.

When Yuki's icy chakra receeded, Kiyomiko slowly began to move her arm, her blood-red eyes a fraction wider than normal as she tested her range of movement, turning, twisting, flezing and rotating her arm and fingers. The ice defied all logic, which shouldn't come as a surprise, but it didn't restrict movement at all, as if it were made out of a thin and breathable fabric so light that it could have been made out of air. It was beautiful, shining and glittering in the sunlight as Kiyomiko trailed her fingers over it. It's surface was cool and perfectly smooth like polished marble or glass and it didn't melt or crack when she touched it. When she had memorized everything about it, Kiyomiko lowered her hand to her knee again and nodded to herself, as if she had just confirmed something, and the ice began to slowly receed back into her skin, leaving nothing behind as if it had never been there at all.

"Well, that was pretty." Kiyomiko said quietly, deactivating her sharingan before she swept her wet bangs aside and out of her face, revealing her pale silver eyes once again. The scents around her had remained unchanged, at the same distance they were before, and she couldn't sense any unease from her ANBU observers so she could only assume that they hadn't noticed anything, thinking she had just been practicing a jutsu while she'd been sitting there the whole time. Cool water soaked her clothes and hair and she smiled slightly as a gentle breeze swept down the riverbank, carrying the scents of the forest with it. It was a little strange but she felt better now that she was close to water, just like always.

"_Pretty, yes, but it will probably be very difficult for you to work with at first. It requires an immense amount of chakra control, concentration and practice. It's not like the ordinary level of chakra melding, this is much more intricate and requires precision._" Yuki explained in her mind and Kiyomiko nodded, seemingly to herself, her pale silver eyes lowered and unfocused as she listened. Thanks to her sharingan, she already had each step of the creation process memorized, now it was just a matter of manipulating the water and the chakra to replicate the proper effect. "_Once you've mastered it, the ice armor will even allow you to become fire resistant for a short period of time._ _If you wish to learn it, you should start practicing during the day, when the sun is high. It will make the training more difficult, yes, but it will also allow you to be able to summon the ice armor at a moment's notice, no matter what the situation holds. Normally, this training would take place in the desert.. However.._ _Wait.. This will be the end of our conversation for now, Kiyomiko. Someone's coming_."

Kiyomiko blinked the world back into focus just as the scent of blood, cinnamon and cloves wafted passed her nose and she paused for a moment, sensing out the world around her. That was Gaara's scent, coming from a short distance behind her, though it was far enough away that she could tell he was hiding, watching her from what he thought was a safe distance. _Information gathering..? No.. He's curious._ Kiyomiko stood, raising her arms in a luxurious and catlike stretch, her back arcing as she slightly bent at the waist, a soft sigh escaping her as her muscles tensed and relaxed before she allowed herself to settle again. She couldn't start practicing creating the ice armor with someone from the Chunin Exams watching her. _May as well practice something else_. A second later, there was a soft pop and a clone stood beside her with an almost contemplative expression as it looked around for a moment before it finally seemed to come to a decision, giving a nod as if to confirm something to itself.

"Gaara-kun, I don't mind if you watch me train but you may as well come down from that tree since I already know you're there." Kiyomiko drawled just loud enough that she knew Gaara would hear her as her clone padded over to the black canvas knapsack and withdrew the long white silk bag bound by red silk cord. The clone sat down on the rock next to the knapsack, totally ignoring Gaara as if it weren't even there as it opened up the white silk bag and pulled out the ancient-looking flute.

"How did you know I was there?" Gaara's voice reached Kiyomiko's ears and she turned to look over her shoulder, her arms raised, fingers knit together behind her head with a slightly quirked brow as she looked back at him. He was calmly walking out of the treeline, a few faint tendrils of sand coiling through the air around him as he moved, his pupil-less aqua gaze locked on her. From what she could see, this must be his version of apprehensive curiousity, like a stray cat being offered food from someone it didn't know, and Kiyomiko nearly giggled at the comparison, almost imagining Gaara with cat ears. _No, he's more of a raccoon, after all_.

"Cinnamon and cloves. Well, there's also blood but I'm so used to that now that I barely notice it anymore." Kiyomiko answered with a light sigh as she turned and picked up her fan from the rock beside her clone, hearing Gaara come to a stop nearby, still feeling his gaze on her back as she walked out onto the surface of the river. She was the very image of calm but she paused for a moment to look back at Gaara, who was gazing at her with what she could only assume was something similar to confusion. "Your sand, Gaara. It smells like cinnamon and cloves, like you. I remembered that scent from when we ran into each other on that little side street before the Exams. I knew you were nearby when I was able to smell your sand before I even got out of the river."

"Why are you not afraid of me?" Gaara asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as Kiyomiko half-turned away from him and lowered into a stance, her fan held up over the lower half of her face. Her clone seemed to take the hint and lifted the old wooden flute to it's lips, it's eyes closed as it started off with a slow, flowing song.

"Should I be?" Kiyomiko asked, her curiousity genuine as she closed her pale silver eyes and started to move, her bare feet silent over the surface of the cool, clear blue river. It was the same dance she always did but something felt different, peaceful and serene as her breathing softened, her movements slow and deliberate as her body fluidly and gracefully flowed through each step, each move, a gentle breeze wafting from the movements of her fan, fluttering slightly like a butterfly's wings as she danced in a circle atop the surface of the water. She was completely at peace and that alone was almost unnerving, especially with Gaara watching her every move, but still.. somehow.. she didn't mind it. "You may not believe me, Gaara, but you have eyes like mine. I can see kindness in you, buried deep, hidden away and almost forgotten, though what you choose to do with that information is ultimately up to you."

Everything was quiet except for the soft flute that her clone played and the gentle breeze filtering through the dense foliage of the trees around her, the sound of the flowing river beneath her feet as it rushed over small rocks. Gaara never responded, probably chose not to, and that was fine, the soft whisper of fabric told Kiyomiko that the boy must have sat down but his scent of cinnamon and cloves grew stronger and she paused, opening her pale silver eyes. Gaara was standing right in front of her, his aqua gaze locked with her pale silver eyes as if he were trying to see inside her and she allowed it, relaxing as she closed her fan with one hand and lowered her arms to her sides. They stood silent for a while, the soft sound of music dying away as the clone returned the flute to her knapsack and unsummoned itself with a soft pop that she barely heard. It was strange.. Gaara's eyes were almost exactly like hers, except his were this shade of robin's egg blue that had a strange kind of purity to it, whereas her eyes were a pale silver, cool and clear like mirrors or pools of water in moonlight, reflecting everything and nothing at the same time. Kiyomiko never broke from Gaara's gaze, meeting it evenly and allowing him to see inside her, to see the things that made them similar, the things she had already seen in his eyes. They had both experienced pain, loss and alienation, and Gaara seemed to be slowly realizing what her eyes were saying.

"You're being watched." Gaara said suddenly, as if he were trying to change the subject, his sea-blue eyes lowering a fraction as if he wanted to look away but his pride wouldn't let him. Kiyomiko smiled slightly and lowered her gaze instead, turning and walking back onto the riverbank with Gaara following behind her as she leaned over her knapsack, returning her fan to her bag before she slipped her feet into her geta. He must have noticed the six ANBU observers scattered around her, which was no surprise really. The scent of paint, old wood, ink and cleaning solution was beginning to give her a mild migraine. "Why?"

"Hmm.. Well, I'll save you the boring details, but I guess the best way to put it is.." Kiyomiko seemed thoughtful for a moment, reaching up to touch her chin as if she were trying to choose her next words before a friendly smile appeared on her impish face, seemingly taking Gaara by surprise as he paused, his eyes widening a fraction as he looked at her. Her tone was totally calm, almost cheerful as she shrugged her knapsack onto her back. "They learned something about me and now they're trying to decide if I'm a monster or not."

"Are you?" Gaara asked, keeping a steady pace with her as she started to walk back towards the village down the rough, lesser-travelled dirt path through the forest. As always, the scents of her observers were steadily ever-present, just far enough away that they could watch without being seen themselves. However, Gaara's eyes never left her face, as if he were watching for something specific.

"I suppose you could say that I am, yes. Though, I keep myself on a short leash now." Kiyomiko answered honestly, still seeming somewhat thoughtful as she touched her chin with a curled index finger, looking upwards at the sky as if she were thinking about something, her words accompanied by the rhythmic, hollow clacking of her geta over the path. "The only reason I became a monster in the first place was because I didn't know any better at the time. I was impressionable and naive.. Just a child looking for love, praise and recognition. I didn't fully understand.. the awful things I'd done until much later.."

Kiyomiko paused for a moment, realizing that Gaara wasn't walking beside her anymore and she turned just seconds before the scent of cinnamon and cloves nearly overwhelmed her. She could feel warm sand all around her, humming with a strange kind of chakra, as she was lifted a few feet off the ground and turned to face the boy that had been walking beside her until a moment ago. His hand was raised as he controlled the sand, causing it to carry her closer to him, holding her up as it wrapped around her, coiling around her arms, legs and throat. Anyone else would have been panicking, screaming, begging for mercy or some such nonsense but Kiyomiko did none of those things, she didn't fight or try to get away, she just allowed Gaara's sand to hold her up in front of him, her pale silver eyes level with his sea-blue gaze and he seemed almost surprised by her distinct and outright lack of fear even as the sand began to gradually tighten around her body. She could hear his heartbeat speed up, his breathing quicken slightly, the faintest glimmer of excitement in his eyes as the sand coiled around her throat like a snake but still, she never fought against it. It was only pain, after all.

"Are you still capable of becoming the monster that you once were?" Gaara asked, his tone dangerous and almost lethal as he looked up at Kiyomiko, little clouds of amber-colored sand floating around her, brushing across her skin. She could feel the tension in the air, she knew the ANBU observers were watching _very_ carefully, as if they were trying to decide whether or not to intervene. _It would be safer for them if they didn't_. In that moment, Kiyomiko allowed her mask to fall away completely and Gaara's eyes widened when a soft smile formed on her youthful and impish face, holding no fear or disgust, just a _knowing_, a kindness and understanding that seemed to say that she knew what he was feeling in that moment and that she wasn't afraid of him. Kiyomiko was allowing Gaara to see her as she really was.

"No, Gaara. It's not that I can't, it's that I've chosen not to. I've decided to change, to stop being the monster and be who _I_ want to be instead." Kiyomiko answered quietly, one arm slowly reaching out of the sand that seemed to loosen with her movements as reached out to Gaara. She knew about his ultimate defense, she had seen it during the preliminaries, heard about it from his siblings, how it had a will of it's own but she was prepared for it. As she had expected, the sand rushed up to defend Gaara but it seemed much weaker now, as if it didn't quite think she was a threat and her hand slowly passed through it, the sand scraping across her skin like tiny shards of glass but she didn't mind. Gaara's eyes widened with traces of some unknown emotion as Kiyomiko took his outstretched hand in hers, her fingers slipping between his as the sand around her gradually began to loosen. "I've decided that the only time I will ever willingly become the monster again is when I kill the man who created the monster I used to be, when I kill my father."

Gaara seemed to pause at her words, the realization sinking in as his sand slowly released her, setting her back down on the path once again before it disappated, coiling its way back into the gourd on his back while she continued to hold his hand. He was looking down at her with the strangest expression she'd ever seen him make, as if he wasn't quite sure if he'd understood her properly, as if he didn't quiet know what to make of her, before he looked down at his hand in hers, going terribly still for a moment before he jerked it away as if her hand was some foreign object, some tainted thing that he didn't understand. Still, she wasn't angry with him even as she watched him take a few steps back, his expression going completely blank, back to the cool mask of indifference once again, but he hesitated for a single second before he disappeared in a whirlwind of sand, leaving her alone on the path in the dense forest by the river on the far outskirts of the village.

-(o.o)-

Over the course of the last seven days, Kiyomiko had fallen into a tedious and monotone routine. She would wake up every day at three in the morning, bathe and eat before she left her apartment promptly at four in the morning, returning to the river at the outskirts of the village where she would set up a training dummy on the riverbank and train for the _entire_ day with only an hour's rest near mid-day, only returning to her apartment to eat, bathe and collapse in the middle of her sitting room floor at eleven at night, until she woke up again at three in the morning after only getting four hours of sleep before she started the routine over again. Admittedly, she was giving her ANBU observers quite a workout but they seemed to stay with her wherever she went and she didn't mind them. A few times, when she was alone, she'd even held a conversation with one of them, albeit a one-sided one. She remembered him by his scent, walnuts and sun-soaked foliage, as one of the two ANBU agents that had come to her apartment after Naruto's battle with Mizuki, but she didn't say that directly and eventually it all just became routine.

Today however, the sun was high overhead, the birds were chirping, the cicadas buzzing and Kiyomiko was grumbling as she looked down at her hands with a glare of disdain and frustration, sitting on a large boulder with her elbows propped up on her knees and her head down as she took a short break from her training. She was wearing a simple pair of knee-length shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, both charcoal grey, using her forehead protector as a headband like Sakura, her long black hair pulled back into a loose ponytail that hung down to the swell of her hips when her messy bangs had been tamed and secured with silver tube-like clasps on either side of her face. Her knapsack and geta sat on the boulder beside her, along with a simple first-aid kit and a cooler filled with ice and bottled water, while a training dummy sat a few feet in front of her, a face drawn onto it, looking back at her almost mockingly.

Kiyomiko cursed again under her breath, glaring down at her hands with a look of frustration and disdain. Her hands were badly wounded, knuckles bruised and slightly swollen, poorly-wrapped bandages stained pink from the blood that mingled with the water from the melting ice. This was infuriating. After seven days of training, she still hadn't managed to recreate the ice armor that Yuki had shown her and the spirit wasn't exactly giving her any tips, much to her dismay. Time after time, she would form the ice armor around her forearm and punch her trating dummy to test the durability of the ice only to watch as it shattered from one hit, and not even a full-strength hit at that. After a while, she'd even been forced to alternate between hands because of the amount of damage she was sustaining from her training alone. After just one week, Kiyomiko's hands looked bad, her knuckles were bruised, bloody and swollen and her fingertips had gradually taken on a slight blue tint from frostbite because of the prolonged use of the ice, though Yuki assured her that her body would quickly adapt and grow immune to the cold with repeated use. Even with her hands in such a state, Kiyomiko wasn't giving up and the proof of that was in the knee-high pile of shattered ice around the training dummy, melting in the mid-day sun. It was only a matter of time before she got it right. She just had to keep telling herself that and keep trying.

"_Ne_, Kurumi-kun!" Kiyomiko called out to the forest around her, just loud enough that she knew her walnut-scented ANBU observer would hear her, as she flopped back onto the boulder with a heavy sigh, holding her poorly-bandaged hands up over her eyes to block out the sunlight, a frown on her face. "I'm a little surprised that you and your team have been able to keep up with me so far, not that that's a bad thing, I'm actually impressed, but you've got to be exhausted by now, despite your obvious aptitude towards your current profession. Listen, I've got an idea! How about you send one of your teammates or a shadow clone off to get some yokan or dango from Suzume's teahouse and I'll pay for it! I mean, you've got to be bored out of your minds, watching me train all day, right? It's the least I can do."

All that answered her was silence, though she'd been expecting that and she rolled onto her side, propping herself up on one elbow as she reached into her knapsack and fished around for something for a few minutes before she pulled out a small black leather coinpurse. She winced slightly as she forced her fingers to curl around the palm-sized object, the leather bag slipping from her grasp once, but she got it eventually, opening the little bag and dumping a sizeable amount of coin and bills into her palm, holding it up for her walnut-scented ANBU observer to see as a sort of confirmation that her wallet wasn't filled with explosive tags or something. After a minute, Kiyomiko put the money back into the little black leather bag and tied the purse-strings to a single kunai, holding that up as well while she looked for the least-threatening target possible. With a slightly-awkward flick of her wrist, the kunai and coinpurse were whipped at a nearby tree, just deep enough inside the treeline to remain cloaked in shadow. She knew he would see it.

"Go ahead and use as much you want, Kurumi-kun. You already know I live like a monk, so what would I need money for anyway?" Kiyomiko gave a bored sigh as she laid back on the boulder again, covering her eyes with her forearm and allowing her observers time to make whatever decision they were going to make, listening to the world around her. The gentle breeze rolled through the thick foliage of the trees around her and she could hear low-toned windchimes nearby, quiet and soothing with the sound of the river. There it was. A single footstep. Had she been normal, she may have even missed it among the ambient sounds and she smiled to herself when she heard a single clink of a coin in the forest around her. Kurumi-kun was inspecting her wallet, to make sure it wasn't rigged, and it wasn't, just as she'd shown them. Obviously, this was unorthodox, probably close to breaking the rules, giving her ANBU observers money to go out and get treats to recover their strength, but she didn't really care. "I recommend the mizu-manju with the mizuame filling. It looks a little bit like a jellyfish when you first see it but it's surprisingly good. I suppose kuromitsu or umeboshi could be a good filling too, though.. Ah, _gomen_, I'm rambling."

After a few minutes, everything returned to a near silence as Kiyomiko closed her eyes, a part of her mind willing her hands to stop aching and heal enough that she could get back to training already before she heard a subtle _clink-thump_ nearby, the sound of a kunai sinking into rocky soil and she smirked slightly. Moving one of her feet to the left, she wasn't surprised to discover a kunai sticking out of the soil a few inches away from her foot, noting the distinct absence of a jangling sound when she tested it by tapping the handle of the kunai with the toes of her left foot. Kurumi-kun had taken the coinpurse, returned her jagged kunai and she could faintly detect a retreating scent, probably a clone or something heading back to the village. That's good then. Now she didn't feel so bad about overworking them. Without moving her right forearm from over her eyes, Kiyomiko grasped the handle of her kunai between her toes and pulled it up from the ground, tossing it up into the air and catching the linen-wrapped grip with her left hand when it fell close enough for her to reach it, dropping it onto the boulder beside her kunai pouch without even looking. It wasn't that impressive of a feat for her, she could tell by scent, sound and experience where the kunai would be at any given time, so it was no surprise to her that she caught it but she could have sworn that she heard a man's faint "_eh?!_" from somewhere in the forest nearby and she actually openly chuckled at that. Aaannnd then, once again, nothing happened. Everything was quiet and peaceful as Kiyomiko layed back on the boulder on the riverbank, a gentle breeze ruffling her long black hair... and then her eyebrow twitched.

"That's _it_! I'm too bored to just sit around like this!" Kiyomiko complained with a loud groan as she suddenly sat up, sitting cross-legged on the boulder and probably acting remarkably like Naruto at the moment as she glared down at her poorly bandaged hands. Alright, wounds or not, she was going back to training. _First things first!_ Kiyomiko turned and snatched up a roll of fresh bandages from her knapsack and tore away the old, dirtied bandages from around her hands, wincing slightly when she had to peel a particularly troublesome layer away from her knuckles as they began to scab over. She would have to treat them properly when she got back to her apartment, make sure they didn't get infected and she cringed at the thought. Wrapping the bandages around her wounded hands, Kiyomiko made sure that they were nice and tight without being so bulky that they hindered flexibility, balling her hands up into fists a few times to make sure she still could. "Alright.. That should do it."

Walking over to the training dummy, Kiyomiko took a relaxing breath and raised her right arm, balling her hand up into a fist as she tried to recall the _exact_ feeling of Yuki's ice armor, her pale silver eyes narrowed at her bandaged hand as frost began to coat the fabric, gradually turning into ice. The process had sped up a little since Yuki had first showed her how to do it, Kiyomiko had been picking it up a little easier, but she was still far from perfect. When her fist was covered by the ice, Kiyomiko flexed her fingers to make sure it adjusted itself to her movements before she turned and gave the training dummy a half-force punch to the torso area. _Crack!_ No luck. It was still too brittle. _Snap!_ Still not right. _Pop!_ Harder, but broke too easy. _Clink!_ Too much like porcelain. _Clank!_ Not hard enough. Again and again, Kiyomiko punched the training dummy, alternating between her left and right hand, ignoring the growing pain in her knuckles and joints as her fingertips began to tingle before they started to feel like they were on fire. She had to get it right sooner or later and she winced for a fraction of a second each time she punched the dummy, more and more ice shattering around her arms and dropping to the rocky riverbank at her feet like bits of broken glass, glittering in the light as it began to melt in the mid-spring heat. Soon, the bandages around her hands began to loosen and fray, the fabric over her knuckles taking on a distinctly pink hue as her blood began to mingle with the water from the melting ice and Kiyomiko's face was pinched into something between a scowl and a wince, her impish features darkening with frustration and annoyance after every failure but she kept going anyway, punch after punch, for what felt like hours. All of a sudden, a superbly sweet and strikingly familiar scent reached her nose and Kiyomiko paused when she realized that it was coming closer at a fast pace.

"_Mizu-manju!_" Kiyomiko cried as she turned, pale silver eyes wide as she saw the object soar out of the foliage of a nearby tree. If she didn't do anything, it would land in the dirt! As quick as a flash, Kiyomiko sprung into action, dashing into the flying manju's path and jumping up to catch it in her mouth. Almost immediately, she landed in a crouch, sitting back on her haunches like a fox, her hands curled up like paws as an expression of childish happiness blossomed on her normally stoic or spaced-out face. The sweet flavor of a mizu-manju with peach filling danced on her tongue and Kiyomiko let out an uncharacteristically impish giggle as she nommed on the palm-sized mizu-manju, totally unaware of her surroundings until she heard a man's laughter nearby, quickly silenced when he caught himself, a slapping sound like someone clapping a hand over their mouth reaching her ears and her eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. "_Ku-ru-mi-kun!_ You almost wasted a perfectly good manju! And with a peach and _mizuame_ filling, no less! That's terrible!"

No response. Not that she was expecting one, anyway. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko popped the last bite of the mizu-manju into her mouth and plopped down on the large boulder again, sitting cross-legged on the flat grey rock with an almost pouty expression as she looked down at her hands. Even though she'd just bandaged them, they were all beat up again, the bandages hanging loose, stained pink around the knuckles, her normally perfectly white fingertips tinted a pale blue from frostbite, the pads of her fingers pruned from the prolonged exposure to the moisture of melting ice. It would probably be a good idea if she took a break again, at least to let her hands dry and warm up again, though she didn't relish that idea. Any amount of warmth made her hands tingle like little needles were poking her skin and it got more than a little annoying after a while. Still, it was either that or risk making her frostbite worse and possibly lose the use of her hands for a while. Well, fine. Since there was little else she could do, Kiyomiko resigned herself with another slight sigh, her expression relaxing into one of near-lamentable boredom as she allowed herself to rest again.

"_Ne ne,_ Ero-sennin! Where the heck are we going?!" Naruto's loud, pouty voice reached her ears and Kiyomiko paused, turning to look towards the path leading back towards the village to see a flicker of orange between the leaves before her teammate appeared, walking backwards onto the riverbank as he looked up at someone walking in front of him, someone still obscured by the foliage as the boy complained.. rather.. loudly.. The familiar scent of sweet sake, basil and some kind of cheap flowery perfume reached her nose and Kiyomiko paused as the figure walked out from behind the trees.

"Ah! It's Mister Grabby-Hands!" Kiyomiko shouted before she could stop herself, her pale silver eyes wide as she jumped up onto the boulder, pointing at the man as he and Naruto turned to look at her in mild surprise. It was the man who'd "accidentally" knocked her down on the first day she was supposed to attend the Academy. The man with the long while hair and red lines painted down his cheeks from his kindly black eyes, wearing the sage green wrap-shirt and pants with the red vest, a giant scroll strapped to his back. He looked puzzled for a few seconds before his expression shifted to one of stunned recognition and that was _almost_ enough to make Kiyomiko smirk but she growled instead. "You still owe me a bag of dried peaches, you jerk!"

"Oh! I remember you! You're that cute little girl that bumped into me a few months ago!" The man gave her a friendly smile as he walked towards her, one large hand raised in a casual wave as his geta clacked over the smooth stones that lined the riverbank, Naruto jogging beside him, looking a little confused. "How have you been?"

"_Cute little girl?!_" Kiyomiko gaped for a second before her pale silver eyes narrowed dangerously and her eyebrow twitched in annoyance, her lips curling into a _wicked_ smile and Naruto immediately stopped in his tracks, his bright blue eyes wide as if he'd seen a demon behind her or something. At least _he_ realized the danger. Mister Grabby-Hands didn't, still approaching, and Kiyomiko slipped her hand into her sash and drew her fan, snapping it open in one fluid movement despite the obvious wounds on her hands as she lowered into a stance, holding the fan up over the lower half of her face, the blades glittering in the sunlight as she spoke with an absolutely calm and friendly tone. "Naruto, would you please be so kind as to move out of the way? I'd like to make this guy _pay_ for the dried peaches that he made me drop and I don't want you to get hurt!"

"_E-eh?!_ Kiyo-chan, wait! This guy is supervising my training!" Naruto cried as he suddenly ran ahead of the man, jumping in front of him and holding his arms out wide as if to protect him from Kiyomiko, which seemed to totally surprise the man. She paused for a moment. ANBU was still watching her and the man may be stupid and condescending but he could just as easily be ignored.. Plus.. Naruto's eyes were serious. "Don't hurt him!"

"Oh, _fine_!" Kiyomiko sighed in clear disappointment as she snapped her fan closed with one hand and plopped down cross-legged on the boulder, an annoyed expression on her face as she looked up at Naruto with one eye open, resting her elbows on her knees, her poorly bandaged hands resting limply on the rock in front of her. "So, what happened to Kakashi? He's supposed to be the team-leader, isn't he? Why isn't he teaching you?"

"Eh..? Kiyo-chan, you don't know?" Naruto paused, all seriousness vanishing from his gaze, replaced by a mild surprise as he jogged over to stand in front of Kiyomiko, his bright blue eyes showing slight confusion. Mister Grabby-Hands seemed to sense that the theatrics were over and he approached as well, though he was a great deal more cautious than before, which she almost found amusing but she chose to turn a questioning stare towards Naruto instead. "Kakashi-sensei's been gone for almost a week now.. He grabbed up _Aho_-Sasuke from the hospital the night after the preliminaries ended. They've gone off to train somewhere until the Third Exam.. Didn't Kakashi-sensei tell you before he left..?"

"A-ah, he must have finally realized that I can take care of myself." Kiyomiko answered after a second, acting as if she hadn't studdered as she forced a slight smirk of mild disinterest. Naruto didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, which she was grateful for. _Kakashi.. He's gone.. He left the day after the preliminaries, which means that he must have left with Sasuke right after he left me at the apartment.. And he's going to be gone until the day of the Third Exam, three weeks from now.. But I'm supposed to meet with the Hokage any day now!.. No.. He already knew that.. He left anyway.. He's.. abandoned me.._ She didn't even notice that her hands had balled up into fists, fresh blood oozing out of the wounds on her knuckles and seeping into the thin, wet linen bandages even as she forced a cool and calm demeanor. "Meh. It's not like I really care. Anyway, I can tell that you're all excited about something, Naruto. What's up?"

"Oh! Ero-sennin's teaching me this _awesome_ new jutsu!" Naruto beamed, his smile rivalling the sun as he planted his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest with pride and Kiyomiko smirked, not noticing that the man was glancing at her out of the corner of his eye while he looked around at the dense forest setting, seemingly searching for something. "He's teaching me how to summon frogs!"

"Oh? I'm impressed, that's pretty advanced." Kiyomiko asked with a sly smirk as she moved her hands out of sight at her sides, ignoring the pain and the scent of her own blood growing stronger as she carried on a calm conversation with Naruto. _Kakashi.. No, I guess I knew it all along. He's just like everyone else after all. I won't let this bother me, I should have expected it. He found out who I am.. what I've done.. I can't expect him to protect me now that he knows the truth.. It was all just empty promises and pretty words.. again._ She was cold, despite the mid-day heat of spring and all the color seemed slightly faded somehow, but she it her feelings well, her pale silver eyes only darkening a few shades around the edges. "How far have you gotten?"

"Just tadpoles so far.." Naruto's expression of pride almost instantly fell into one of depression as his head dropped and his arms hung at his sides, his shoulders slumped forward and Kiyomiko could almost see the little rainclouds forming over him. "I can't seem to get it right."

"Well, I have faith in you, Naruto." Kiyomiko gave the boy a genuine smile and he looked up, all traces of his depression gone, replaced by something like surprise at her soft tone. Even Mister Grabby-Hands seemed a little surprised, blinking a few times as he looked down at her as if he wasn't quite sure he'd heard her right. "It may take a little while to master something that high-level but I know you can do it. You just have to practice."

"So.. You two know each other..?" Mister Grabby-Hands asked, looking between Naruto and Kiyomiko with a seemingly confused expression as he leaned over slightly, pointing back and forth between the two of them. Kiyomiko quirked a brow as she looked up at him but luckily she didn't have to say anything, Naruto beat her to it.

"Hm? Oh yeah! Kiyo-chan is on my team, along with Sakura-chan and _Aho_-Sasuke!" Naruto explained with a bright smile on his face as he plopped down on the boulder beside Kiyomiko, looking at her with wide, bright blue eyes filled with interest and curiousity. "_Ne ne_, Kiyo-chan, what are you doing all the way out here? Isn't your apartment all the way on the other side of the village by the Academy?"

"Oh, I've just been training for the Third Exam. Been at it for about a week now with no progress, unfortunately." Kiyomiko answered, her expression darkening slightly as she looked down at her poorly bandaged hands, thin fabric stained pink from blood mingling with the water and she sighed somewhat as she flexed her fingers in an attempt to loosen the muscles and ease the ache away, to no avail. "I guess I just need to follow my own advice and keep practicing. I know that I'm close to getting this technique right but I figured I should take a break and give my hands a rest for now. I've been working all day."

"Here, let me take a look at those." Mister Grabby-Hands smiled kindly as he stood in front of Kiyomiko, holding his hands out to take hers. In that moment, time seemed to slow and Kiyomiko began to memorize every detail about him, even without her sharingan. He had slight scars on his hands, fingertips calloused and weathered, the smell of ink mingling beneath the sweet sake and cheap flowery perfume but more than that.. Earth and Fire. His movements, however innocent, were deft and deliberate, nothing wasted as he started to kneel down, his eyes slowly rising to meet hers as if he was in slow motion.. _No.. He's dangerous_!

"You _do _remember what happened the _last time_ you touched me, right?" Kiyomiko growled, her pale silver eyes narrowing reflexively as she jerked her hands out of his reach at the last second before she fluidly somersaulted backwards on the flat boulder, curling to one side and stopping in a catlike crouch behind Naruto, her hands lightly resting against the stone in front of her as she stayed poised to jump backwards if necessary, an openly wary expression on her face. She wouldn't take any chances with this guy. He may look harmless at first but he was dangerous and Kiyomiko was mentally berating herself for not noticing it when she met him before. The man seemed confused and a little shocked by her reaction, looking up at her in surprise before Naruto quickly started to explain, ever playing the peace-keeper.

"Oh, try not to worry about it, Ero-sennin! Kiyo-chan is just a little bit like a stray cat. She doesn't like being touched by anyone until she gets to know them first." Naruto chirped a little matter-of-factly, trying to explain the only way he knew how and Kiyomiko quirked an eyebrow at the back of the boy's head as he quickly continued. "Just be glad that she didn't threaten to stab you like she did with Kabuto-san! Though I don't really understand what that was all about.. But anyway, she only seems to let a few people touch her. See, watch! _Ne ne,_ Kiyo-chan, lemme see your hands?"

"Hrmph." Kiyomiko grumbled as she positioned herself beside Naruto, straddling the boulder as she held her hands up for the boy's inspection, her cheeks slightly puffed out as she looked away with a pout. Though she knew he was just trying to prove a point, Kiyomiko was a little annoyed with herself at being so transparent to Naruto sometimes. Most days, he seemed oblivious but.. some days, he could see right through her. Though, at the same time, Naruto was one of the _three_ people in the whole village who could touch her without making her go completely rigid or fear for her life, the others being Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji. "They look worse than they really are. They don't hurt all that much, they're just really stiff."

"Oie oie, Kiyo-chan! These look really bad and your hands are freezing cold!" Naruto gaped, concern plain in his eyes as he looked down at Kiyomiko's battered, bruised and bloody hands, the boy carefully peeling away the water-damp bandages to reveal the wounds beneath. Even Mister Grabby-Hands fell silent when the bandages were removed and Kiyomiko sighed, her head tilting slightly in exhaustion and chagrin as Naruto held her hands up. Her knuckles were black and purple, fingertips tinged with a pale blue around her fingernails, thin trickles of blood mingling with water from the melted ice and turning pink across whatever pale white skin was left unbruised. "Are you _sure_ that you're okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've had worse wounds before. Trust me, this will only take a day or two to heal." Kiyomiko managed a slight smile as she took her hands from Naruto's abnormally warm grasp, turning and reaching down into her knapsack to grab a fresh roll of bandages. As Naruto and Mister Grabby-Hands watched, Kiyomiko forced her fingers to work properly just long enough to bandage her hands up again, showing no traces of pain aside from the occasional flicker of a wince, giving a slight sigh when her hands had been properly bandaged once again. When she was done, Kiyomiko draped her arms around Naruto's torso and gently rested her chin on the boy's shoulder, seemingly taking him by surprise as he hadn't been looking at her but he quickly relaxed when he realized that it was just her, acting as if this was perfectly normal as Kiyomiko fixed an unwavering silvery stare up at the man looking down at them. "So, what's this guy's name? It's too much trouble to keep calling him Mister Grabby-Hands, no matter how appropriate it seems."

"Hm? Oh, he calls himself a Toad Sage or something like that." Naruto answered with a thoughtful tone as he looked at Kiyomiko out of the corner of his eye. "He's been supervising my training for about a week now and I don't think he's ever told me his real name but he's _super_ pervy, so I started calling him Ero-sennin."

"Toad Sage.." Kiyomiko's pupil-less silver eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment as she entered her mind, going over every scrap of information she could remember. _I've heard that somewhere before. An alias? Maybe. Did I hear it in another village? No. Bingo books? No. From any stolen mission reports? No, not that either. Wait.._ "Toad Sage.. I remember now. Jiraiya, former student of the Third Hokage, decorated war veteran and hero of the Second Shinobi World War, became known as one of the Legendary Sannin before he acted as a Team Leader for a boy who eventually became the Fourth Hokage. He also writes those adult books that Kakashi reads all the time."

"_Ano sa.._ It's a little weird when you do that, Kiyo-chan.." Naruto smiled and chuckled a little awkwardly as Kiyomiko blinked, her eyes returning to normal as Jiraiya just stared at her in surprise, a flicker of suspicion in his gaze, which Kiyomiko summarily ignored. "I mean, I know that you have a great memory for names and information, but do you really have to list off _everything_ you know about him, just like that? It's like you're reading from a book or something."

"_Gomen,_ it's just a habit of mine." Kiyomiko managed a slight smile as she released Naruto and stood up upon the boulder, half-turning away from the two males as she looked down the river with an absent-minded and spaced out expression but it was feigned. She didn't want to see their expressions and she didn't want them to see hers as she looked for any form of a distraction so they wouldn't see the truth in her eyes. In the time that she had spent with her father, he had taught her about the world outside of their little underground compound, about the history of the world and all the different villages, even about his own past. Which included Jiraiya. Mentally shaking the thoughts away, Kiyomiko turned to smile down at Naruto, all traces of the truth hidden behind an immovable mask. "Well, I didn't mean to keep you. You should get back to training. I'll probably be heading back to my apartment soon."

"Oh yeah! I gotta get back to training!" Naruto looked as if a lightbulb had just been lit over his head before he suddenly jumped up from the boulder, looking as hyper as ever as he jogged a short distance down the riverbank. He began forming the seals for a summoning jutsu and she was impressed by how fast his seal-forming had gotten, faster than a normal Genin's would be, but it was still pretty slow compared to hers. She knew he'd get better, though. She had faith in him.

"I'm impressed with your memory, little girl!" Jiraiya said in a cheerful tone, his voice low enough that Naruto wouldn't hear him as the man turned to look at Kiyomiko, watching her as she stepped down from the boulder as-calm-as-you-please, kneeling over her belongings just long enough to pack everything away, sealing the cooler and her training dummy into a scroll before she dropped the scroll into her knapsack and swung the bag over one shoulder, turning to look up at him with a totally blank expression. Within one minute, it was as if she had never been there. "You seem to know a great deal, especially about me, though I'm afraid you have me at a loss! I don't really know anything about you!"

"I'm sorry, Jiraiya, but I won't tell you anything. If you're really that curious, take it up with your sensei." Kiyomiko said rather bluntly, reaching up to the thin black leather cord that bound her hair and tugging it free, long black locks cascading down her shoulders like a curtain of ink-black silk threads, darker than the deepest shadows of a moonless night as it hung down to the swell of her hips. Kiyomiko half-turned away from the man, casting him a silvery sidelong glance as she paused there for a moment, seeing his dark eyes narrow _just_ slightly. Recognition. It was there again, in his gaze, just as it had been when she first met him. _He knows_. She let a fox-like smirk appear on her face, her pale silver eyes darkening a shade with a hint of bitter cynicism coloring her gaze before she turned, lifting one battered and bandaged hand in a lazy wave, raising her voice loud enough for her teammate to hear her. "_Ja na_, Naruto!"

"_Ja na, _Kiyo-chan!" Naruto's voice called back.

Kiyomiko disappeared down the path towards the village, the scents of her ANBU observers coming closer than they had all week and her heart sank, though the bitter smirk remained unwavering on her face. _The blood tests have reached the Hokage, then_._ And Kakashi is gone. I'm alone again. Hn. Figures._ A quickly creeping cold began to seep into her chest, an old familiar friend, a feeling of emptiness that used to keep her sane returning with it as she walked, her geta clicking across the dirt path towards the village, the forest around her stained by the orange light of sunset, color only split by the ominous blackness of the shadows cast by the trees surrounding her. Still, she showed no signs of unease as she kept walking, one foot in front of the other, _click click clack click clack_, the monotone sound of her geta as hollow as her heart felt as she tugged the silver clasps from her bangs, slipping the little tubes into her pocket as she swept a bandaged hand through her hair. She knew she looked like him now, when her hair was down, bangs slightly covering her face, but she didn't care. _I'm the daughter of Orochimaru, the child of a monster.. I may as well look the part when I sit before the Hokage as he sentences me to death. I hold no illusions of survival at this point.. Even Kakashi has proven that promises and pretty words hold no meaning.. I've learned now that even Konoha is capable of betrayal._.

"Kiyomiko." A man's voice, a familiar voice, spoke in a monotone from behind her and Kiyomiko half-turned her head to listen, acknowledging Kurumi-kun's presence without looking back or slowing her pace and he walked a step behind her, his footsteps silent as three other ANBU agents appeared in a formation around her. "The Hokage wishes to speak with you. We will escort you to the tower."

"Lead the way."

With that, the four figures of the ANBU agents and the form of Kiyomiko disappeared in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Oh, man.. This one had me on an emotional roller-coaster while I was writing! It took me a couple days longer than I would have liked but I hope it's alright!

The song that Kiyomiko is singing during the battle with Iruka is called "Kagome kagome". No, not the Vocaloid version, it's the traditional version that elementary school children sing. There's a good version on Youtube, it's a scene from the anime called Tactics.

Oh, some of you may be wondering why she's calling a male ANBU agent "Kurumi", which is mostly a girl's name. It's because Kurumi means "walnut" in japanese, so she's essentially calling him "Walnut-kun", because he smells like walnuts. Oooh, can you guess who he is?!

Leave a review and let me know what you think!


	9. A Glimpse of the Monster

Here's the rewritten chapter nine.

* * *

Kiyomiko had been allowed to return to her apartment for a minimum of five minutes to change and she paused for a moment as she stared at her reflection in the mirror while the four ANBU agents waited on the other side of her closed bedroom door. She was wearing her pure white silk yukata with the long flowing furisode sleeves that hung down to her knees, a pair of white shorts beneath it, loose fabric gathering just below her knees while a wide white silk band wrapped around her waist like an obi, fresh bandages covering her hands from her fingertips to her elbows. Her long black hair was loose around her torso and down her back, her messy bangs swept to one side and out of her emotionless face, her pale silver eyes delicately lined with charcoal while the edges of her irises darkened to a stormy grey. Lastly, Kiyomiko tied her forehead protector around her bare neck like a collar, not even trying to hide the scars anymore as she slipped her feet into a pair of new pale pinewood geta and turned, swinging her black canvas knapsack onto her back and leaving the room.

Kiyomiko said nothing as she left her empty apartment, leaving nothing of herself behind should she not return. She didn't want to make trouble for anyone who may move in after her, she'd cleaned the place up over the last week, not that there was much to clean up anyway. Just dusting, really. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Kiyomiko was surrounded by the ANBU team, moving in formation with Kurumi-kun behind her the whole time. She could see the staring villagers below, civilians and shinobi from Konoha and other villages as well, all startled by the sight of a little girl surrounded by ANBU elite. She never gave them a second glance as her geta clicked primly over the rooftiles and concrete as she and her escorts made their way towards the Hokage's tower beneath the monument mountain, where the carved faces once again loomed over her like great monsters intent on gobbling her up. Though, she showed no manner of fear, she showed nothing, once again appearing like an emotionless doll.

When they finally arrived at the Hokage's tower, Kiyomiko was led down the same halls and corridors as before, only this time her escorts stopped in front of a wooden door, opening it for her and gesturing for her to go inside. She obeyed, her pale silver eyes lowered to the floor as she walked into the room and heard the door close behind her, one of the men staying behind to guard the door, though she wasn't sure _who_ he was supposedly guarding, her or everyone else. The room was small, the dark-stained hardwood floor covered by a faded sage green threadbare carpet, walls painted a slightly cream-colored off-white, a few wooden chairs set up against the walls while a pair of small wooden end tables displayed soft-cover books or magazines for anyone to read to pass the time. It was a waiting room. _Wonderful_.

"_Yuki, do you know who's here?_" Kiyomiko asked in her mind, her pale silver eyes losing focus as she stood perfectly still in the center of the small room, her arms rested at her sides as she stared at the back wall, unseeing as she listened to her other senses. She could detect the scents of the Hokage, Kurenai, Asuma, Anko, Ibiki, Inoichi, Shikaku and the four members of the ANBU team that had been assigned to watch her, though the rest of the scents were muddled and unclear, mingled together with the other scents of the Hokage's staff. "_Can you see them?_"

"_It's the same people as last time, except there's one more._" Yuki's voice whispered in her mind and Kiyomiko listened, sensing the slight unease with which the spirit spoke. "_The man from the river, Jiraiya, is here as well.. And.. Kakashi isn't here.._"

"_It's not necessary for Kakashi to be here._" Kiyomiko answered, her mental voice sounding a little colder than she really meant it to, resting one hand over her heart where Yuki's seal marked her skin beneath her clothes, her unseeing silver gaze lowering to the floor as her expression remained blank. "_As long as I have you, I'm fine._"

"_I'm here._"

An official-sounding knock came from the door and Kiyomiko blinked the world back into focus and let her hands drop back to her sides just before the door opened. She turned to see Kurumi-kun standing there, waiting for her in the corridor and she nodded once, walking out of the waiting room and following him in perfect silence, even her geta were soundless across the wooden floor, and the man seemed a little unnerved by that but he didn't say anything and neither did she. Walking down the hall, Kiyomiko slowed her pace and turned when Kurumi-kun stopped in front of the grand archway that led into the room where Kiyomiko had met with the Hokage and the Jonins just one week prior. It was different this time. The lights had been dimmed somewhat and a small wooden chair sat in the center of the room, facing the Hokage's desk, a little end table beside it with a small towel laid across it, two ice packs sitting on the white fabric.

"You should use the ice packs, Kiyomiko-chan. Your hands hurt, don't they?" Kurumi-kun's voice was barely above a whisper and Kiyomiko paused, raising her gaze and looking to the side just enough that she was looking at his torso instead of his feet. This was the first time she'd heard his voice since she'd spoken to him after Naruto's battle with Mizuki. She'd almost forgotten it. It was lacking the usual monotone that the ANBU elite usually prided themselves on, instead replaced by a sort of softness, kindness, like an older sibling and Kiyomiko looked away, suddenly looking back down at the floor again. _Just like Kakashi back in the Land of Waves. Well, I'm not getting my hopes up again_.

"I appreciate your concern, Kurumi-kun, but it's wasted on someone like me..." Kiyomiko kept her voice low as she paused in the archway, feeling all eyes turn towards her, her pale silver eyes lowered to the floor as she made sure that her hands were covered by her sleeves just enough that no one could see the swelling beneath the bandages, though she was sure they all knew about it anyway. As long as the bandages stayed on, they wouldn't see the wounds themselves and that was for the best. "Though, I want to thank you for the manju, earlier. It's likely the last time I'll ever have one."

Without another word, Kiyomiko stepped into the large room where the small gathering of people stood waiting for her, keeping her pupil-less pale silver eyes lowered to the faded red and gold carpet as she forced her breathing and heartbeat to remain perfectly normal. Her mask was firmly set, everything was fine, she'd honor her words and force herself not to care about whatever the Hokage decided to do with her, as long as no one else knew the truth about her or why she had suddenly disappeared. Without looking around, Kiyomiko sat down in the chair that had been provided for her, her gaze fixed on the front of the Hokage's desk as a heavy curtain was drawn over the archway behind her, blocking the room from view of the outside world. The scent of sweet sake, basil and cheap floral perfume reached her nose. Yuki had been right, Jiraiya was there, standing in the darker corner of the room just to the left of the Hokage's desk, leaning back against a wall with his arms folded across his broad chest, his gaze levelled on her. Even without looking at him, Kiyomiko could tell that his expression still held the faint traces of a surprised disbelief and a solemn suspicion. The Hokage had told him everything.

"I imagine that you want to get straight down to business, Kiyomiko, so we'll breeze passed the formalities for now. I've recieved the results from your blood-test." The Hokage began, holding up an official-looking envelope in one weathered hand as he held his lit pipe in the other, his expression perfectly masked once again. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. "However, truth be told, I haven't even read it yet."

"Eh..?" Kiyomiko blinked, a flicker of a puzzled expression reaching her features for a moment before she caught herself. It didn't make sense. Wouldn't he have read the report _before_ he called the meeting? Unless he'd already come to a decision and decided that the blood-tests were just for added proof, justification for his decision. Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes darkened a shade at that thought and she lowered her gaze slightly.

"As you may know, I assigned my own personal ANBU team to observe you for the last week and as a secondary objective, they spoke with various people throughout the village.. about you." The Hokage explained, his tone earnest and almost contemplative, though Kiyomiko could never be sure. "Without realizing it, all of your friends, their families, your teachers and even your brief aquaintences vouched for you, saying that you were quite possibly one of the smartest and kindest girls that they had ever met, if a little distant and indifferent at times. Umino Iruka, your teacher at the Academy, personally approached me yesterday and admitted that you saved his life the night that Mizuki showed his true colors and even my own grandson swears that you saved his life during a rather intriguing encounter with some foreign shinobi before the First Exam."

_However_..

"However, conjecture and hearsay was not enough to reach a clear decision." The Hokage continued. "As such, I've gone over all of your mission reports and asked the leader of the ANBU team observing you to send me daily reports on your wellbeing and activities around the village. The leader of the team, the one you call "Kurumi-kun", is a deeply-trusted and valued subordinent of mine and I hold his unbiased opinion in the highest regard. According to his reports, you are an impressive and driven young lady, extremely dedicated and whole-heartedly loyal to your friends and their families. I believe that his reports are indeed accurate. Despite the fact that the current situation was not favorable by any means, you chose to come forward on your own, asking only that your friends remain unaware of your past, regardless of what your future may hold. That, in my opinion, is honorable."

_Here it comes._.

"I have reached my final decision." The Hokage announced with a slight nod, pinching his pipe between his teeth for a moment before he exhaled, everyone turning to look up at him except for Kiyomiko. "I have decided that Kiyomiko should be allowed to remain in the village for as long as she wishes. In the four months that she has lived in Konoha, she has successfully carried out dangerous missions unbefitting her Genin status, protected and even saved people with whom she shares no relations, and she has shown that she truely cares for the people of Konoha, despite her rather amusing apprehension to admit it. I believe that, no matter who she is related to, she is _meant_ to be here."

Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes widened as she looked up at the Hokage, a slight waver of shock and disbelief in her expression as if she didn't understand what he'd just said. He was.. smiling at her! Was this some kind of joke?! Was he just being sadistic, getting her hopes up before he stared shouting 'off with her head'?! No, he was meeting her gaze with a genuine smile and the longer she stared at him, the more she began to understand that he was truely being serious. There was no malice to his gaze, just that smile that almost radiated the kindness and understanding that made tears well up in her eyes as her heart ached. No one else seemed surprised, a few people were even smiling at her as if to reassure her that everything was alright now, that this was real and that she wasn't dreaming. Despite knowing who she was and what she'd done in the past.. The Hokage wasn't going to execute her, he wasn't even going to lock her up.. He was.. letting her stay!

"Well, now there's just one more thing to do before everyone can go home. Shall we see what these test results say?" The Hokage smiled kindly as he lifted the official-looking envelope for a moment before he lowered his gaze, opening it and unfolding the paper. Kiyomiko blinked for a moment, trying to recover as she watched the man's dark brown eyes scan the page as his kind smile began to fade, being replaced by a slightly perplexed frown until his smile faltered completely, his brows furrowing. "This.. doesn't make any sense.. There must have been some mistake during the test.."

"What does it say, Hokage-sama?" Anko asked, walking over towards the Hokage's desk to look over his shoulder, her lavender eyes looking over the written words that Kiyomiko couldn't see, Whatever the report said had clearly vexed the Hokage enough that he had stopped masking his expression.

"Judging by these test results, Orochimaru is indeed Kiyomiko's father.." The Hokage said, simply confirming what was already known before his frown deepened slightly and he continued. "Her mother, however, is Amatsuki Aria, the last leader of the fallen Amatsuki clan.. Someone I believed to have died.. thirty years ago.."

"That's not all.." Anko breathed, her lavender eyes wide as the Hokage handed her the sheets of paper and she stood upright, flipping through them with a stunned expression. "According to this, the medical team in charge of testing Kiyomiko's blood found an inconsistancy in her DNA, another genetic marker that didn't belong.. It says that the team was able to cross-reference the DNA codes found in her blood with DNA samples that we already have on record.. My god.. The stray genetic sample from Kiyomiko's blood perfectly matches with that of.. Uchiha Itachi.."

_What..?_

"There must be some mistake.. Here, Anko, let me take a look." Kurenai stepped forward and took the pages from Anko's hands, her scarlet eyes gradually widening as she read the page's contents line by line. "No.. I know the doctor that ran the tests, I went to the Academy with her.. This is all accurate.. But.. This says that Kiyomiko's DNA coding was significantly altered, whole strings of genes removed and pieced back together again in a patchwork of three different sets of genes gathered from Orochimaru, Amatsuki Aria and Uchiha Itachi.. How is this even possible?"

Kiyomiko blinked as she suddenly felt as though the room was getting smaller while the people in it were getting farther away, her perception of the walls and floors twisting and warping as the voices around her began to fade in and out as if they whispering one second and shouting the next. She sat perfectly still, her eyes wide as she listened, trying to comprehend what was going on as her heart started racing in her chest as if she'd just been running, yet for the life of her, she couldn't understand why. _What's.. going on? Why.. are they looking at me like that? This doesn't make any sense.._ All color in the room began to fade into black and white and Kiyomiko couldn't breathe, her lungs wouldn't work and she gradually became aware that she was trembling.. _Why?_..

"My god.. He used her as an experiment.." Anko's voice whispered from somewhere very far away and all thoughts in Kiyomiko's mind ceased. "That monster used his own _daughter_ as a genetic experiment!"

"Anko!" Ibiki scolded, sounding startlingly distressed as he turned his attention to Kiyomiko, everyone else turning to look. The room was spinning, a blur of black and white images as the scent of her own blood reached her nose, startling her already traumatized mind as the sharp ache in her wounded hands began anew. She was only vaguely aware of the frost forming around the chair she was seated in as her breath formed a thin mist in front of her, her hands gripping the edges of the wooden seat as blood oozed from the wounds on her knuckles, trickling down her fingertips to drip onto the frost-covered carpet.

"Kiyomiko, are you alright?!" A voice reached her but she couldn't make out who it was as her body began to shiver and tremble uncontrollably. _What's wrong with me? What did Father do to me?! Am I even human anymore?! Was I ever human to begin with?!_ "Kiyomiko!"

"W-what.. a-am I..?"

"Somebody catch her!"

All of a sudden, the world went totally black and all strength drained away from her body as she fainted, her frail and trembling form slumping forward and falling into the arms of whoever got there first. All of her senses faded to black nothingness as months of exhaustion, sleep deprivation and the sudden shock of information overwhelmed her, overloading her senses like fried circuits or a blown fuse. It was all too much and Kiyomiko let herself slip into the thoughtless dark where nothing remained.

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko could hear voices nearby, a man and a woman talking in hushed tones, their voices almost drown out by the humming of electricity.. no, flourescent lights. The acrid stench of cleaning chemicals, antiseptics and antibacterial soaps flooded her nose, making her head spin and when she tried to open her eyes, bright white light blinded her, burning her eyes until she forced herself to blink the world into focus. Everything around her was white, white walls, white tile floors, white curtains, white sheets covering her.. The realization sunk in slowly and Kiyomiko sighed in annoyance. She was in a hospital room. She must have fainted earlier and someone must have _carried_ her here. _Wonderful_. Still, those voices annoyed her more, especially since she was alone in the room. They were coming from the other side of the door to her right and she could see a silhouette in the glass windowpane in the door, though she couldn't make out who it was. With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko closed her eyes and focused on her hearing, pushing passed the hum of the flourescent lights and the whirring of medical equipment.

"How is she..?" A man's voice asked, sounding solemn and mirthless with seemed odd for the familiar voice.

"By all accounts, the patient is doing well." A woman's voice answered with a slight sigh, sounding exhausted and overworked, though otherwise very official. _Doctor_. "Actually, I'm afraid that's an understatement. I've never seen anything quite like her. I've been looking over all of the information that the ANBU team gave me and doing the tests that the Hokage asked for, which is to say just about every test I could think of, and the results are just.. baffling. Despite the fact that she rarely eats and barely sleeps, this girl is healthier than even _I_ am, to an extreme level bordering on beyond humanly possible. Don't misunderstand, she _is_ human, however with the proper diet, regular sleep and the right training, she could easily become one of the village's best kunoichi, hands down. The fact that she was able to sustain such an unhealthy lifestyle for so long is just further proof of this. You said that she's been living like this for four months..?"

"If not longer.." The man's voice responded, sounding almost troubled now.

"Yes, well, she's almost completely recovered already, even though she's only been here for two days." The doctor said, a whisper of fabric and a slight click of a heel telling Kiyomiko that the woman shifted her weight. "When you brought her in, she had severe bruising, swelling, moderate frostbite and a startling amount of chakra burns on her hands as well as throughout her entire chakra pathway system. From that and from what the ANBU team has told me, she's been spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to learn what seems to be a _very_ high-level jutsu, I'd say A-rank or maybe even higher.. Though all of those wounds seem to be healing at a remarkable rate. Judging by the progress, she's probably already fully recovered. However, someone should still stay with her and make sure she doesn't go right back to training, just in case."

"Thank you, doctor. I appreciate your help."

Kiyomiko opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up, willing her awkward and stiff body to move as normally as possible as she tossed the sheets aside and swung her feet over the edge of the small bed, tugging off all kinds of wires and sensors connected to the various medical equipment beside the bed. Her normally pale silver eyes were shadowed with the dark turmoil she felt within her heart and her body was tense as she stood, her bare feet pressing against the cold white tile floor just as the door slid open behind her and the scent of sweet sake, basil and ink reached her nose over the sour smell of chemicals. _So, Jiraiya was the one who brought me here after I fainted. Just. Freakin'. Wonderful_. Kiyomiko didn't even look back as she heard the slowly approaching footsteps pause, the sliding door rolling closed behind her as she swept her hands through her long black hair in an attempt to make herself as presentable as possible, the skin of her hands still tender and sore, though otherwise managable.

"I can feel you staring at me, you know." Kiyomiko drawled with a deceptively calm sigh as she turned, seeing Jiraiya standing just inside the door, looking at her with a strangely attentive stare, almost calculating, like he was trying to fathom all of the information that had just been dumped onto his shoulders. Kiyomiko allowed a ghost of a smirk to cross her features and she shook her head as she turned away. "Hn. Don't tell me you're feeling pity for the child of your enemy, Jiraiya. It's obvious that you don't trust me and that's perfectly fine because I don't trust you either."

"It's not that I don't trust you..." Jiraiya began after a few seconds of silence, the man watching her as she crossed the room and stopped in front of a cabinet built into the wall across from the small bed, opening the doors to find her clothes folded up on one of the shelves beside her geta and knapsack. Wasting no time, Kiyomiko grabbed up her belongings and swept into the nearby bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar so she could still hear Jiraiya when he continued. "I just don't know what to make of this whole situation.. I mean, obviously, I had my suspicions when I first saw you but.. for those idle suspicions to be confirmed like this.. I never knew.. I never thought.."

"Yes, yes. A lot of people keep telling me that when they learn who I am." Kiyomiko snapped from the other side of the door, the hint of a faint growl of irritation hidden beneath her breath as she stripped off the faded green hospital gown and tossed it into a laundry bin near the door, pointedly ignoring her reflection in the massive mirror over the sink. "They always say that they never thought he was the type to have children, or that they didn't think anyone would ever want a child with him. What a joke. They were all just afraid that he would _breed_ and foist his demon spawn upon the world, like a plague. They all conveniently forget that children are more pliable to a set of less-than-acceptable morals than adults. _That's_ what he was counting on. And lemme tell you.. I'm not the only child he had locked up underground. He collects them, you know... _Special_ children, ones with abilities he likes and he trains them to be perfect little soldiers. Sometimes he'll even start modifying their bodies to make them stronger, time and time again, until they hardly resemble what they once were, but that's only for the kids with abilities he _really_ likes."

Kiyomiko's voice had remained perfectly flat as she spoke, the growl still barely hidden under her breath as she yanked on the pair of white shorts, her white silk yukata and tied her sash tightly around her waist before she turned to glare at her reflection in the mirror. In a matter of seconds, Kiyomiko pulled her long black hair up into a high ponytail, binding it with black leather cord, before she tamed her messy bangs, securing them on either side of her face with the silver tube-like clasps. After a moment, she nodded to herself once, deeming her appearance acceptable now that she no longer looked so much like her father, though her pale silver eyes were still slightly narrowed into an all-too-familiar glare but there was nothing she could do about that until she calmed down. Looking away from the mirror, Kiyomiko slipped her feet into her geta and swung her black canvas knapsack over one shoulder before she turned towards the door, giving a soft sigh as if to prepare herself for whatever was waiting for her on the other side.

"Is that.. what he did to you?" Jiraiya asked as soon as Kiyomiko opened the door, his dark eyes betraying something like.. sadness? No. It was _pity_ and the realization made Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes narrow. She didn't want his damn pity.

"Only the best for _Daddy's little girl_." Kiyomiko growled sardonically under her breath, pausing in the doorway as she folded her arms across her chest, looking up at Jiraiya with a bitter and cold expression. "Looking back.. It all makes sense now. The black-outs when I was little, why I would wake up with bandages around wounded limbs that had been perfectly fine when I went to sleep, all of the mysterious bruises, the needle marks that would appear while I was in so much pain that I couldn't move, like my whole body was on fire. Hell, my first memory was waking up in a damn glass tube in some kind of medical ward when I was two years old. But don't worry, I'll spare you the more _gruesome_ details. I don't have time to dwell on the past any more than I already have today. I'm sure you can understand why I can't stand being in hospitals. I gotta get outside."

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and walked towards the door, sliding it open and walking into the corridor. She knew that Jiraiya was following her, she heard his geta clacking almost in time with her own as she walked down the long hallway towards the nurse's station and she didn't even speak to him when she signed herself out. In record time, Kiyomiko was outside, walking away from the hospital down the busy streets of Konoha. The sun was shining, the village was lively, more and more visitors from other villages pouring into the city for the upcoming Third Exam matches, business was booming and Kiyomiko ignored it all as she just started walking in a random direction. She wasn't going to her apartment even though it was closest, it was only a block away and she could see the white-stone building towering over the others but she still chose to walk in the opposite direction, Jiraiya following a few steps behind her in silence.

Looking back at him with one pale silver eye open, Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest, hiding an annoyed scowl as she gradually began to quicken her pace. Jiraiya noticed this and kept up with her, following a few steps behind her as she wove through the blissfully ignorant and oblivious villagers and rounded corners in a blind attempt to get away from him, Kiyomiko's irritation growing by the second. She didn't want him to follow her, didn't care if she hurt his feelings, didn't care what he had to say on the matter, she didn't trust him and she knew that he didn't trust her either. Kiyomiko couldn't trust anyone that didn't trust her. The people of Konoha could talk all they wanted, spewing pretty rose-colored words, saying the world was all flowers and butterflies and that she was safe here but she knew better now. Even _Kakashi_, the man that hugged her and promised she'd be okay, the first person to know her secret in this blasted village, had betrayed her, hadn't been there for her when she needed him most, when her life was on the line, abandoned her to her fear of the Hokage and the possibility of imprisonment or death. She had no idea where she was going and she didn't care, she _did not_ want company right now and dodging Jiraiya became her number one priority but he kept with her even as her pace quickened into a light jog.

"Stop following me." Kiyomiko snapped over her shoulder, her irritation showing in a brief flash as she glanced back at the man who was all but stalking her at this point. He sighed but didn't say anything. Indeed, he looked as though he was just as miserable and annoyed as she was but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of having things go his way. Rounding another corner, Kiyomiko came to a sudden stop on a quiet side-street between districts, the same street where she'd first met Gaara, and she could tell by the scents in the air that there was no one around for at least two blocks. She turned, raising a steady, silvery glare up at Jiraiya as he came to a stop in front of her, looking almost depressed as he returned her gaze. "Why are you even following me? You don't know me, you don't even _like_ me, and I know I'm too young to be your type, so _why_?"

"The Third told me to keep an eye on you." Jiraiya answered rather plainly, his expression clearly stating that he'd rather be doing something else and Kiyomiko blinked for a second, digesting his words. _The Third.. asked Jiraiya.. to _babysit_ me..?_ "I'm supposed to act as your guardian until your sensei, Kakashi, gets back after the Third Exam and that means following you around and making sure you don't go right back to training, even though I'd much rather be at the hotsprings right now."

"My.. _guardian_..?!" Kiyomiko gaped, her pale silver eyes wide as she looked up at Jiraiya, the look of shock on her impish face nearly comical before her eyes narrowed with a barely controlled anger, her whole body tense until she suddenly relaxed as her normally pouty lips curled into a foxlike smile and Jiraiya paused, seemingly remembering what it meant when Kiyomiko smiled. "_Ne_.. Let's play a game, Jiraiya. Hide-and-seek! If you can find me by sunset, I'll let you follow me around without any compaints and I'll even go easy on you, scheduling trips to the hotsprings around my training. Even if you _don't_ find me, you can just go to the Hokage and say that a brat like me is just too much trouble to follow around all day. Sound like a fair deal?"

"Hmm..." Jiraiya struck a thoughful pose, reaching up to touch his chin as he looked down at Kiyomiko, mulling over her challenge as she grinned up at him as innocent-as-you-please, her hands hidden in her sleeves behind her back, already forming the seals. She knew what she had to do and Jiraiya, however experienced, was an adult. He would underestimate her, just like everyone else had. "Well, I don't see why not. After all, you're just a Genin and maybe a little game would liven things up a bit."

"Well then.. _Ja na_."

Kiyomiko's grin widened just seconds before there was a massive series of small explosions and at least thirty identical girls stood on the quiet sidestreet, all of them bringing their hands up to form the same final seal before they exhaled an enormous cloud of thick white mist. The temperature of the mist was shockingly cold and everything was total pandemonium within the fog as the identical girls ran and jumped in every direction, mixing the original Kiyomiko with the fakes, or at least that's what Jiraiya was probably thinking. As the twenty-nine clones ran in different directions, Kiyomiko heard them all use a transformation jutsu, transforming into civillians at random. Half of them already blended in among the city-dwellers while the other half ran along rooftops and through the streets, drawing just enough attention to make Jiraiya notice them more than the others but not enough that he would think they were a distraction.

As the chaos ensued, Kiyomiko dropped into a dark alleyway as calmly as if nothing was wrong at all. In less than the blink of an eye, a beautiful young woman emerged from the alleyway, a sultry smile on her red-painted lips as she casually walked down the market street, turning heads wherever she went. Flawless pale skin shimmered in the sunlight as rich auburn hair hung loose down to her shoulderblades, bangs cut straight just above her delicate brow, glittering orchid eyes hooded with an almost seductive gaze as her flower-printed sage green yukata hugged her shapely form in all the right places, geta clicking primly across the ground as she walked. In any other situation, this would seem folly, but Kiyomiko excelled at mind games. Jiraiya would see her, she knew this instantly, but he wouldn't approach her because it was too obvious. If she were trying to remain undetected, why would she transform into someone who obviously attracted so much attention? Simple. It was _because_ she attracted so much attention that no one would think that she was anything other than what she appeared to be. Besides all that, it was about time that the people of this village learn to never underestimate the girl with a thousand masks. Kiyomiko had learned that she needed to be able to blend in to survive.

Wearing a mask of perfect calm, Kiyomiko casually walked from vendor to vendor, stall to stall, browsing each merchants' wares and making small talk with a few people as she slowly made her way out of the market street and towards the edge of the village, smiling and bowing her head in greeting to anyone who wished her a good morning. Her act was flawless. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, named Yukariko, a civilian, recently engaged and had a particular fondness for orchids because of the color of her eyes, a trait that was inheritted from her mother. Every line of her story rolled from her lips as easily as if she were breathing and Kiyomiko remembered all of it, slowly and casually making her way towards the outskirts of the village, towards the only place that she had ever felt remotely safe, the _exact last_ place that Jiraiya would think to look for her. The Forest of Death. It would be deserted now, the Second Exam over and the ANBU investigations completed, she could slip in unnoticed and get to her cave, staying there for as long as she needed to. She already had everything she owned in her knapsack, which was transformed into an elegent silk purse, all of her belongings sealed up into half a dozen scrolls. She would be perfectly fine.

The mid-afternoon sun was just beginning it's descent as Kiyomiko reached the fence surrounding the Forest of Death and she smirked to herself as she listened to her senses. There was no one around for miles and Kiyomiko kept up her transformation as she hopped the twenty-foot fence in one easy stride, slipping into the shadows of the dense forest and taking to the trees, her geta clicking primly against the branches as she easily jumped from tree to tree, following her nose around any possible danger as she made her way through the forest towards her cave. That had been remarkably easy, not one of her clones had been unsummoned and she hadn't run into any problems getting away from Jiraiya, however she didn't lower her guard completely. Despite the fact that he was probably just hanging out and hitting on girls half his age, there was always a small chance that he was still searching for her, especially if he didn't trust her. Kiyomiko's orchid-colored eyes darkened a shade at the thought but she never slowed her pace as she dropped down from the trees and onto the riverbank, the sound of rushing water reaching her ears like an old friend.

The sun was shining, causing the rippling water of the river to sparkle and glitter like diamonds as Kiyomiko followed it towards the bend, the sound of the waterfall growing gradually louder with each step. When the waterfall appeared, Kiyomiko allowed a small smile to form on her face as she slowed to a casual stroll, pausing to sit down on a nearby boulder beside the river. It was so peaceful, the gentle breeze through the trees around her, the birds singing a carefree song.. Kiyomiko couldn't resist the urge to join them and she slipped a hand into her bag, retrieving the long bundle of white silk, unwrapping that to reveal the ancient carved wooden flute. There were no humans around her, no inconsistancies in the scents on the wind and she was far enough inside the forest that she wouldn't be heard, even by some of the most sensitive ears. Raising the flute to her lips, Kiyomiko began to play a soft and delicate, serene song, the notes flowing just as gently as the breeze or the calm river before her, her music accompanied only by the sounds of nature around her. It was at times like this when she was truely at peace, her eyes closed as she listened to the music that her flute created, the little piece of wood seemingly using _her_ as the instrument, not the other way around. And then, all at once, it was ruined.

"Ah! What luck! I go off searching for the kid I'm supposed to be babysitting and I come across a beautiful woman!" Kiyomiko heard Jiraiya's voice behind her, startling her out of the peaceful serenity completely.

What happened next was a reflex.

"Tch, dammit! Found already?!" Kiyomiko growled low, her voice still transformed into that of the woman she was pretending to be as she whirled, whipping a handful of senbon at the ground behind her, directly in front of where Jiraiya was standing and he jumped back as Kiyomiko launched herself off of the boulder and away from him. Channelling chakra into her feet as she landed on the surface of the river with a light splash, her orchid-colored eyes narrowed into catlike slits as she crouched into a fighting stance, a jagged kunai held in each hand, blades gleaming dangerously in the light. Jiraiya looked shocked for a split second before his dark eyes narrowed on her, recognizing her as a kunoichi at the very least. "How did you even know I was out here?! I thought my little distraction would have been enough to keep you busy!"

"Well, now.. How rude of me. You seem to know who I am. Now, I normally never forget a face, especially not one as beautiful as yours, but I can't seem to recall who you are. Have we met before?" Jiraiya asked, his stance relaxing only slightly as a confident smile appeared on his face and Kiyomiko blinked for a second as if she didn't believe what she'd just heard. _This guy is supposed to be one of the Legendary Sannin, on par with my father, yet he can't see through my transformation..? Is this guy an idiot?!_.._ Oh well, better make the best of this_! "I haven't seen a stance like that before, but I saw how you went for water first. You're a water user, aren't you? Amegakure or Kirigakure?"

"Oh, I'm _hurt_! I thought you'd at least have the common decency to remember who I am!" Kiyomiko countered, a sultry smirk appearing on her transformed features. _This is probably pretty dumb.. bordering on suicidal.. But we're far enough from the village. And I still remember the layout of the forest from my encounter with Kakashi five months ago.. Alright.. There's only one way to know for sure! Gunna go for it! _"Well, let's see if you're any better than that other Konoha Jonin! What do you say, old man? I got some time to kill. Care for a friendly sparring match, or are you just going to run along like a good little lapdog and look for that brat you're supposed to be babysitting?"

"Technically, I have until sunset to find the kid. And besides, how could I say no to such a pretty girl?" Jiraiya answered, accepting her challenge with a cocky smirk but she could tell there was something different about him and she tensed slightly, her orchid-colored eyes watching his every movement _very_ carefully. Just as she had seen at the river the other day, his movements were deliberate and deft, nothing wasted and there was a new scent on the air, the pungent smell of oil and rising heat. _Toad Sage, huh..? Earth and Fire. I'm at a disadvantage no matter which way I look at it._ "Ladies first."

"Oh, how kind of you." Kiyomiko smirked, her movements bordering on lightning-fast as she stowed her jagged kunai in the sleeves of her kimono and began forming seals in a blur, drawing on Yuki's chakra as she kneaded it into the water at her feet. She could feel the chill of the chakra flowing through her and her orchid-colored eyes took on a dangerous glitter as she formed the last seal. "Suiton: Ryufujin!"

Instead of forcing the water underground, as she had when she'd used the technique against Kakashi after graduation, Kiyomiko allowed the water beneath her feet to rise up directly behind her in a coiling torrent of freezing water, three columns of riverwater reaching up to twenty feet high before they started to arc over her head towards Jiraiya, coiling around each other and gathering speed as three became one. There were shimmers within the water, almost like tiny schools of silver-scaled fish, reflecting the light and the Sannin's eyes widened slightly as his brows rose in surprise. He recognized what was hidden in the water. All of a sudden, Jiraiya's messy white hair began to grow at an astronomical speed and it wrapped around his body completely, shielding him just as Kiyomiko's attack struck, waves of frigid ice-laced water crashing over him and spreading outwards along the riverbank in a circle around him. Kiyomiko grumbled a rather colorful curse beneath her breath before she dispelled her jutsu and started running as the coiling column of water began to lose it's form, turning into rain that fell onto the earth and back into the river, scattering delicate needles of ice everywhere.

It may be insanely dangerous but she knew that this opportunity was too good to pass up. Jiraiya had shielded himself, he couldn't see her as she began forming seals and an identical copy of her transformed self appeared beside her before the clone ran into the treeline to observe using sharingan. If Kiyomiko had any chances of getting strong enough to defeat and kill her father, she would need all the help she could get, even if that meant memorizing Jiraiya's techniques and using them to suit her needs. Just as Jiraiya's hair began to tremble and retract, Kiyomiko started forming seals for another jutsu, running into position to attack from behind, her orchid-colored eyes determined as she began kneading chakra into her breath. As soon as she skid to a halt behind Jiraiya, Kiyomiko brought her hand up to her lips and exhaled, her breath and pale blue chakra forming a whirling orb of frigid wind that began to condense in on itself, it's rotations speeding up, faster and faster, the grapefruit-sized orb shrinking down to the size of a small marble.

"Oh? You can use ice needles, Ohime-san? You're just full of surprises!" Jiraiya chuckled as his hair finally returned to normal, his perfectly calm and cocky tone only serving to irritate Kiyomiko before she suddenly froze. Her clone had just been destroyed by Jiraiya in the treeline, but she hadn't taken her eyes off of him while he stood on the riverbank! _Tch! A shadow clone! Good thing mine didn't use it's sharingan before it was destroyed_. All of a sudden, Kiyomiko's sharp eyes detected a slight shimmer in the air, the scent of metal reaching her nose and she tensed, grabbing the marble-sized orb of chakra in her own hand as she dropped into a low and catlike crouch. "I believe it's my turn now."

"By all means!" Kiyomiko smirked from behind Jiraiya's clone, the shimmering of steel wire getting closer and closer as she crouched low, holding the marble of wind chakra beneath her as she waited for just.. the right.. second... There was still no killing intent from him, he meant to use the wire to capture her, not kill her. He probably thought she was a foreign kunoichi that had snuck in during the chaos of the Exams, trying to get information about the village. _Baka_. The wire glittered in the light as it began to surround her, almost floating on the air. _Now!_ "Ha! _Ja ne, _old man! Going up!"

"Eh?!" Jiraiya's clone whirled around, eyes wide, just in time to see Kiyomiko lean forward into a handstand, slamming the marble-sized orb of blue glowing chakra into the ground, the attack that was once meant to attack him from behind now exploding on contact, propelling Kiyomiko upwards like a rocket as the attack formed a glittering cone of wind, scattering rounded white river pebbles everywhere like little pellets. Time seemed to slow as Kiyomiko's mind worked at a furious pace, plotting out move after move while her orchid-colored eyes scanned her surroundings for anything that might help her. _Okay, I'm in the air. Now what? I'm a sitting duck up here and if he doesn't use me as target practice, I'll just fall back down and probably hurt myself. Think! Oh wait, I got it!_

"Hope you don't mind, but I'll be using these!" Kiyomiko let a playful and triumphant grin slide across her transformed features as she drew her jagged kunai from the sleeves of her kimono once again, using them to hook a few of Jiraiya's steel wires before she whipped them in opposite directions while she was still in mid-air. Thankfully, the two kunai jammed into two nearby trees, spreading the wire taught like a tightrope and not a second too soon as Kiyomiko allowed herself to land on the wire, her feet protected by the steel plates nailed to the bottom of her geta as she stood up with a foxlike grin, looking down at a rather shocked shadow clone of Jiraiya, staring up at her as she stood on the steel wire, fifty feet off the ground. _His_ steel wire. That turned out to be a bad idea in the long run. The scent of oil was coming from the wires.

"Katon: Ryuka no Justu!"

"..the fuck?!" Kiyomiko whipped around, orchid-colored eyes wide with surprise, just in time to see Jiraiya, the real one, standing on the branch of a nearby tree where her jagged kunai had struck, holding the steel wire taught. A coil of fire exploded on his breath, catching on the end of the steel wire and, instead of burning _through_ the wire, the flames began to travel along it's length, quickly approaching her as Jiraiya's shadow clone disappeared with a pop. _It was a feint. That sneaky bastard actually thinks he caught me in a feint!_ A growl rumbled from deep within Kiyomiko's chest as her sharingan bloomed in her eyes on reflex, her transformation technique dispelled in an instant, revealing her true form as she stood upon the steel wire, and she was _furious_. The look of pure shock on Jiraiya's face quickly turned to panic when he realized what had happened and _who_ he'd been sparring with and who his flames were approaching, but Kiyomiko wasn't about to be burned. "You call that fire?! _I'll show you fire!_"

"Kiyomiko!"

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Kiyomiko's voice echoed through the forest as fire ignited on her breath and she slammed her wind chakra into it as well, quickly creating a massive and swirling orb of raw wildfire that grew to such a size that it dwarfed her small form before she set it free. The ball of wildfire travelled down the steel wire and engulfed Jiraiya's technique, returning it to the Sannin as the steel wire began to creak and twang beneath her feet as if to complain about the heat being applied to it. It wouldn't hold out for long. Kiyomiko knew that Jiraiya had been holding back when the orb of wildfire ate up his technique before baring down on the Sannin, but she'd still left him plenty of time to dodge as she lowered into a catlike crouch on the heated steel wire, preparing for the recoil and the drop that she _knew_ was coming. _This is it. I have no other options left. It's now or never!_

Almost as soon as Jiraiya had vacated the tree and retreated a safe distance away, Kiyomiko's orb of wildfire slammed into the boughs and exploded, burning away anything and everything within a twenty-foot radius, which Kiyomiko was just _barely_ outside of, and the wire beneath her snapped under the power of her attack. Time seemed to slow as Kiyomiko glared down at the ground that rushed up to greet her as her body went into an uncontrolled freefall from fifty feet in the air. As if everything was moving in slow motion, ice crawled across her skin as flames exploded outwards from the backdraft of her attack and Kiyomiko felt the heat of it for a split second before everything went cold and her small body was shoved downwards as flames roared overhead. A loud crystalline _clang_ resonated through the forest and the ground exploded as she crashed into the soil, dirt and plant matter scattering around her before everything went quiet, the only sound coming from the flames above her and the patter of debris falling around her.

Kiyomiko inhaled and then exhaled, hearing the steady heartbeat within her chest as she opened her eyes. She had curled into a crouch when she landed, as if to protect herself, and she could hear rushed footsteps approaching as she slowly got to her feet, thin tendrils of steam rising from the surface of her skin. The footsteps suddenly stopped and she heard a sharp intake of breath as she raised her hands up somewhat, looking down at them with a blanked expression. _I did it.. I finally did it.. I used Yuki's ice armor.._ Kiyomiko's hands were shining and glittering in the flickering light cast by the sun and the fire that raged through the tree above her, pale white skin covered by a perfectly flexible sheen of ice that slowly began to receed back into her body, leaving no traces of it's presence behind as she panted for breath, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession as if she'd just run a marathon. After a moment, Kiyomiko allowed a soft sigh of relief to escape her as she plopped down onto her backside in the dirt behind her, sitting crosslegged as she allowed herself a moment's peace.

"I finally got it right..." Kiyomiko sighed as she reached up and swept a hand through her hair, the black leather cord coming loose as she turned to look up at Jiraiya, the Sannin standing a few feet away with wide eyes as he stared down at her. She was completely unharmed after a fire attack and a fifty foot fall, the only signs of their little sparring match was the few streaks of dirt on her white silk yukata and the exhaustion that coursed through her. Still, she was smiling. Not a frighting smile that usually meant she was about to hurt someone but a real, genuine smile, a slightly playful tone in her voice as she spoke. "Well, looks like you found me before sunset."

-(o.o)-

It was official. Kiyomiko hated Jiraiya. After their little sparring match in the forest of death and the fire had been put out, the Sannin had marched her straight back into Konoha, practically _ordering_ her to stay in her apartment while he went off to speak with the Hokage. Fortunately for Jiraiya, she was too exhausted to care. Kiyomiko had bathed, changed into a clean white yukata, glad that she had purchased somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty of them, before she immediately proceeded to open up all of the windows in her apartment, including the sliding glass doors to the balcony, the thin white linen curtains swaying with the gentle evening breeze. Now, in the dead of night, Kiyomiko was laying on her back on the floor in the center of her empty sitting room, hands folded across her torso, one ankle rested over the other, eyes closed as her long, wet black hair pooled around her head like strands of ink-colored silk, darker than the deepest shadows of a moonless night. A gentle breeze filtered through the empty and dark apartment, bringing with it the scents of incense and late-spring fruits, a windchime twinkling somewhere nearby as the wind rustled the leaves of the many trees around Konoha.

_Ah. I'm bored already._ Kiyomiko groaned softly as she rolled onto one side, opening one silver eye and she looked out onto her balcony, moonlight shining down on the sleeping village. Every window was darkened, only a few Chunins patrolling the streets at this hour while most of the guard was manning the high walls around the village. _Yup. Screw it. I can't sleep._ With a soft sigh, Kiyomiko sat up and opened her knapsack, pulling out the white silk-bound object before she stood and padded onto her balcony, her bare feet silent across the wood and then concrete tile. With one easy movement, she hopped up onto the corner of the railing, her ankles crossed for modesty as she swept a hand through her long black hair, brushing it out of her eyes as she let it hang freely down her back, silken strands swaying in the gentle breeze as she brought her flute up to her lips and waited for just the right moment, listening to the world around her as if waiting for her cue.

And there it was. The breeze seemed to settle and the fanciful music of the windchimes faded, leaving the world in a kind of peaceful silence as Kiyomiko began to play her flute, her pale silver eyes closed as she just.. _felt_. It was a soft song, surreal, like something one might hear in a dream, and she smiled to herself as she played, conveying her wish to enter such a sweet dream through the notes she chose. For a short while, Kiyomiko played her flute for the shadows of the night, for the full moon rising overhead, the stars slowly wheeling across the sky and the breeze through the leaves of the spring fruit trees. Once again, it felt that she had attained some form of peace, as if she were currently in a higher place, not just literally or figuratively but.. spiritually, as folly as that thought seemed to her. It was a strange sensation yet not all together unwelcome. Gradually, she became aware of the windchimes again and she softened her notes, lowering their volume and slowing the tempo of the night's lullaby before the last note was played, little more than a soft sigh into the flute before she let her hands rest in her lap.

"Good evening, Gaara." Kiyomiko said quietly as she opened her pale silver eyes to see the boy in question standing on her balcony with an unreadable expression, his bright red hair a splash of crimson against the moon while his sea-blue eyes almost seemed to glow through the shadows cast by the light of the full moon above him. "I'm sorry if my music bothered you, I just needed to calm down a bit. I've been feeling a little uneasy lately. Is there something I can do for you?"

For a moment, the silence remained and Kiyomiko waited, looking at the boy who was looking at her, though something about his eyes seemed unseeing, like they had lost focus and somewhat shadowed. It was strange.. Like the look on her face when she talked with Yuki, except Gaara seemed as though he was becoming increasingly vexed, and Kiyomiko's brow furrowed just slightly as she absent-mindedly raised one hand to rest over her heart. She could feel the hum and tingle of Yuki's chakra within her, letting her know that he was still there, that he was watching, protecting her even now and she took comfort in that. Yes, she had a few people she could trust, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru.. But they had their lives and she had hers, she was still seperated from them, even now, by the secret life she had lived before coming to Konoha, by the past that she must keep hidden. Ultimately.. She, and Yuki, were alone.

"Well, if you've come to visit with me for a while, I'm afraid I don't have much to offer in the way of refreshments." Kiyomiko spoke up a little suddenly as she slid off of the balcony railing, her movements seemingly snapping Gaara out of whatever trance he'd been in, his sea-blue eyes regaining their focus as he watched her. With a small smile, Kiyomiko gestured for the boy to follow her as she turned and walked into her dark and empty apartment, scooping up her knapsack from the floor as she made her way into the kitchenette, disappearing through the archway. "I probably have some Gyokuro tea somewhere, if water doesn't interest you. I also have a couple bags of dried peaches left.."

"You have no furniture.."

"Ah, technically, that's not true. I have a bed and a dresser in the bedroom!" Kiyomiko said matter-of-factly as she set some water to boil on the stove, preparing the teapot by spooning some dark green tea leaves into it. "Though, truth be told, I hardly ever go into my bedroom unless it's to dress. I spend most of my time in the sitting room or on the balcony."

"And you live alone?" Gaara's voice reached Kiyomiko's ears and her hand paused, hovering over a pair of worn green clay cups as her smile faltered somewhat before she caught herself. _Come on, he's only pointing out the obvious. There's no reason to get upset over the truth. Not anymore_.

"Yeah, I've been on my own for the last six years." Kiyomiko answered with a light tone as she set the two cups onto a round wooden tray beside the small teapot. She knew that Gaara was watching her through the archway in the sitting room, she could feel his eyes on her back, but she wasn't bothered by that like most people probably would be. "I'm not exactly on good terms with my father, if you remember, and I've never known my mother.. As far as I know, I don't have any other family, so I just decided to make due on my own. Though, this is the first time I've ever had my own apartment.. or been in one place for so long.. Before coming to Konoha, I used to keep to the wilds, never staying in one village for more than a week or two at the most."

"You miss it." Gaara said, more of a statement than a question and Kiyomiko smiled slightly, holding a small covered bowl of sugar. She did miss it. The vastness of the wilds, the forests and untamed landscapes, untouched by humans, where she could remain unknown and anonymous, judged only by her actions and abilities and not by her bloodlines.

"I suppose I do." Kiyomiko glanced over her shoulder with a small smile as she set the little bowl of sugar down on the round wooden tray, hearing the water in the kettle begin to simmer as she turned back towards the counter. "Life in the wilds was simple and surprisingly peaceful. I never had to worry about things like money, politics or lineage. All I had to worry about was the strength of my abilities and making sure that my presence went unnoticed should anyone be following me. Besides, some of the most beautiful places I've seen were untouched by humans for generations. Humans are such wasteful creatures sometimes.."

"You speak as though you aren't human."

"Well, no.. That's because I'm not... Or, more to the point, I don't see myself as one. I told you before, remember? I'm a monster. Though, not many people believe me. Only one, so far, seemed to understand." Kiyomiko answered, a thoughtful expression on her youthful face as she smiled but there was something darker beneath her words, something hidden in her pale silver gaze as she swilled hot water around in the teapot, her touch gentle and deft as a soft chuckle escaped her. "I was on a mission in the Land of Waves a few weeks ago and I met a Demon that told me that I had nice eyes. He asked me for my name. I told him Ki-Yomi-Ko.. Child of the Underworld.. He smiled at me, _knowing_ what I am, before he sacrified himself to avenge the honor of the one who loved him most and I held his hand as he became a human and died... Ah, excuse me, I'm rambling again."

With that, everything went silent as the tea kettle began to whistle and Kiyomiko poured the boiling water into the teapot, a ghost of an absent-minded smile on her face. Gaara didn't respond but he still watched her as she picked up the wooden tray and turned, carrying the tea out of the kitchen and into the sitting room, setting the tray down on the hardwood floor in front of the balcony doors before she sat down. The boy sat down on the floor on the opposite side of the tray and they said nothing as Kiyomiko poured him a cup of the jade-colored tea before pouring one for herself, holding her clay cup in both hands as she turned and looked up at the full moon, pale white rays of light streaming in through all of the windows as the thin white linen curtains swayed in the gentle breeze that filtered through all of the open windows. There was a strange sort of peace between them, no words needed to be said, as they drank their tea in silence, both of them looking up at the full moon as it set over the slumbering village.

"Why are you not asleep like the rest of them?" Gaara asked finally, his brow slightly furrowed as he half-gestured towards the darkened windows of the buildings below before he turned to look at Kiyomiko, curiousity flickering in his gaze before he paused, his eyes lowering slightly. "Your neck.."

"Hm? Oh.. I forgot to cover it after I got out of the shower." Kiyomiko paused for a moment as her gaze lowered to the floor, one delicate hand reaching up to brush across the left side of her neck, feeling the scarred skin instead of fabric. Almost absent-mindedly, she thread her fingers into her hair and settled it down over her shoulder, hiding the scars from view as Gaara watched her. "They're pretty gruesome, aren't they? I normally keep them covered up with bandages so I don't bother anyone. _Gomen_.."

"Who did that to you?" Gaara asked, his tone as flat and monotone as ever, as he watched her set down her cup of tea and bring her knees up to her chest, lightly resting her chin on her knees. There was something in his voice.. Curiousity, yes, but also.. agitation? Why would he be agitated by seeing her scars..? Odd.

"My father.." Kiyomiko answered with a slight sigh, casting the boy a silvery stare from the corner of her eye, which he returned, still watching her as if he was waiting for something more. "The first time was when I was seven, my father hit me with a pair of senbon when I was running away.. The second time.. Well, I can't go into specifics but it happened around the same time as the Second Exam. I'm afraid this is his idea of "_fatherly discipline_".."

It was the lightest touch she'd ever felt and she paused, looking to one side to see Gaara's outstretched hand, gently brushing her hair away from her neck to reveal the scars. He stopped when he saw her looking at him, his hand hesitating as if he were waiting for her to shrink away or tell him no but Kiyomiko did neither. Instead, she nodded slightly and tipped her head to one side, giving him silent permission to look at her scars and he seemed a little surprised by that, her long black hair swept to one side as Kiyomiko turned her silvery gaze towards the moon once again. Almost cautiously, Gaara gently traced his fingertips over her scars, his expression showing some degree of curiousity. She let him look, didn't mind it, she had heard from his siblings that his sand had protected him his whole time, keeping him from harm to such an extent that at one point, he didn't even know what pain felt like. On some level, it was almost a childlike curiousity, something he didn't understand and Kiyomiko knew how that felt.. After she had escaped her father, the whole world was something new and incomprehensible, totally illogical and she had spent a great deal of time learning.. how to feel.

After a short while, Gaara backed away and stood, saying nothing as he walked out onto the balcony. He paused for a moment, looking back over his shoulder and Kiyomiko smiled, realizing that this was as close to a "goodbye" as she would get for now and she raised a hand in a slight wave just seconds before he disappeared in a whirlwind of sand. The scent of cinnamon and cloves followed soon after, swept away by the gentle late-spring breeze and Kiyomiko laid back on the floor once again, looking up at the ceiling as the scent of sweet sake, basil and ink reached her nose next. A few seconds later, she heard the soft click of a pair of geta landing on the concrete tile of her balcony. Jiraiya had been standing on the roof, patiently waiting for Gaara to leave before he made himself known. _At least he was relatively polite this time_.

"Well, he seemed like a.. nice boy.." Jiraiya stated with a slight amount of hesitation as he walked into Kiyomiko's apartment, looking back towards the balcony with a slightly raised eyebrow. Kiyomiko rolled her eyes and a soft sigh escaped her as the man sat down where Gaara had been sitting a moment ago, pouring some of the Gyokuro tea into a cup that he seemingly materialized from some pocket or something. Kiyomiko rolled onto her side, curling one arm under her head as she watched Jiraiya with one eye open, seeing his odd expression, his tone strangely diplomatic. "Have you known him long..?"

"You're taking this "guardian" business a little too seriously. Relax, Jiraiya. It's not like we're sleeping together, we're just friends." Kiyomiko drawled with a bored monotone and Jiraiya nearly dropped his cup of tea before turning to gape at her as she continued, appearing totally calm and disinterested in conversation as she looked up at him with one silver eye open. "Or, rather, we're as close to friends as people like us can be. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to realize just how alike we really are."

The night continued on slowly but steadily, Jiraiya doing most of the talking while Kiyomiko usually answered with as few words as possible. After about an hour, Jiraiya retired to the bedroom while Kiyomiko laid down on the floor in the center of the sitting room, her hands folded over her torso, one ankle rested over the other, her eyes closed as she listened to the world around her. Once again, she was feeling uneasy. It felt like a calm before a massive storm, a lull, and that made her nervous.

_Something's coming_.

-(o.o)-

_It was that dream again.. The one that never changed. Kiyomiko knew it even before she opened her eyes. She could smell the warm grass and the incense, she could feel the sun and the breeze on her skin, feel the tears on her cheeks just as she always did, hearing a man's voice talking to her but his words were garbled and faint, warped somehow as if he were underwater while speaking some kind of foreign language, though his voice seemed.. strikingly familiar. This dream was always the same, the same dream she always had around this time of year.. Late spring, though she didn't know why it was only during this time of year.. Opening her eyes, Kiyomiko could see that she was kneeling in front of a square stone slab made out of a flat grey rock, carved and polished with names she couldn't read, dozens upon dozens of other identical stone slabs spaced evenly around her. Some of the stones had incense or flowers while others were bare and untended, faded and cracked with time. It was a cemetery, a place that Kiyomiko had only come to learn of after she had escaped her father, a place where the dead are buried and honored for a few months before they're ultimately forgotten._

_As the man's voice continued, Kiyomiko noticed something in the grass beside the stone, a semi-transparent white that seemed to shine in the mid-morning sun, and she reached out to it almost as if she were being drawn to it. Her hand seemed strange, though, as if it were not her own, as if it belonged to a child much younger than she was. With a great amount of care, Kiyomiko gently pulled the object out of the grass and sat back on her heels, looking down at it. It was the shed skin of a white snake, still somewhat small as if the snake hadn't been fully grown but still, she remembered what her father always used to say. White snakes herald good fortune. In that moment, she couldn't help the feeling that something had just been set in motion, something that could never be undone, like floodgates opening and a river being unleashed upon and unsuspecting valley, peace forever shattered. As the man's distorted voice continued, Kiyomiko slipped the snake skin into the sleeve of her white yukata and the dream began to fade into a deep blackness, a chill forming around her as a tingle ran down her spine._

_"Humans.. are far too fragile."_

-(o.o)-

Kiyomiko woke slowly, sensing out the world around her and listening to her surroundings. Everything was quiet, it was still early morning and a slight humidity clung to the air. It was late spring and a storm was coming, though when and from which direction she didn't know. Gradually, Kiyomiko opened her eyes and sat up from her spot on the floor, a frown on her face as she swept a hand through her long black hair. Judging by the snoring coming from her bedroom, Jiraiya was sound asleep and she let out a soft sigh as she got to her feet, her pale silver eyes shadowed with some strange inner turmoil. She.. recognized that place, the cemetery from her dream. It was here, in _Konoha_, though she couldn't understand why she hadn't realized it before. Grabbing up her knapsack, Kiyomiko tied her forehead protector around her neck, hiding her scars, as she shrugged the bag onto her back and slipped her feet into her geta, walking out onto the balcony as the eastern horizon began to lighten from the rising sun. She had no idea why.. but she needed to find that grave.. She needed to know why she was having these dreams. She needed answers and the cemetery was the only place she could think of to start.

Hopping up onto the balcony railing, Kiyomiko left her apartment behind, jumping from rooftop to rooftop towards the cemetery, her geta perfectly silent across the clay rooftiles, concrete blocks and wooden planks that made up the majority of the buildings within the village. A thin mist hung in the air, she could feel the particles of moisture on her skin, her long black hair swaying from her movements as she dropped from the rooftops and started walking along a quiet sidestreet. She remembered this area from her dream yet things were somehow different and Kiyomiko's brows furrowed slightly as her frown deepened, seeing the high stone walls of the cemetery in the distance. When she had seen the cemetery before, she'd thought nothing of it, never gave it a second glance, but now something felt different, something felt strange as she turned a corner and walked through the large archway, pausing for a moment as she saw the massive cemetery sprawling out before her. Aside from there being more graves, more identical stone slabs splitting up from the grass, everything was the same as it was in her dream.

_Walk through the gate, follow the path, thirty stones deep, then turn left, seventeen stones in._. A knot began to form in her gut as she walked, her footsteps slow and silent, no wasted movements as her hands disappeared into the sleeves of her yukata on reflex, grasping the kunai in each sleeve as she walked, a coping mechanism. She could tell by the sounds surrounding her and the scents in the air that there was no one around, the whole cemetery was deserted, as it should be well before dawn, but she still couldn't escape the feeling that she was being watched. It was unnerving. Step by step, she made her way deeper into the cemetery, following the path before she reached the thirtieth gravestone and turned left, leaving the path and walking through the perfectly trimmed grass, counting each stone as she passed. _Fifteen.. Sixteen.. Seventeen_. She stopped, feeling something like a tingle shoot down her spine before she gasped, the strength fading from her legs as she dropped to her hands and knees.

"_Hm..? Sarutobi-sensei, what is this?_"

"_Ooh! That's the skin of a white snake. Must have been hard to find._"

"_I've never seen something like this before.._"

"_Well, to be honest, same here. That's something very rare, something you don't get to see often._"

"_Why is it white?_"

"_Hm.. No one really knows. Then again, not many people think about something like that. But I'll tell you what I do know. For a long time now, the white snake has been a symbol of good fortune and rebirth._"

"_Good fortune and rebirth.._"

"_The fact that you found it here might be some sign. Maybe your parents have been reincarnated somewhere, so that.. someday they can meet a grown-up you._"

"_..When will that be..?_"

"_...That, I don't know._"

Kiyomiko gasped for breath as if she had just surfaced from deep water, her pale silver eyes open wide as the world returned to normal, a cold sweat glistening on her brow as she sat back in the grass, her body trembling as she looked around. She was in the cemetery, sitting in front of a grave.. no, not _a_ grave, _the_ grave.. She recognized it, this was the gravestone from her dream, but something about it was different. The names had been damaged, cracks and chips in the flat grey stone as if someone had chiselled away at it with a kunai and Kiyomiko frowned as her pulse began to slow down to something relatively normal. Just what had those voices been? They both sounded familiar but.. different. The ache in her head was getting worse and Kiyomiko winced, sitting back in the grass and drawing her knees up to her chest, covering her ears with her palms in an attempt to drown out the ringing in her ears, if just for a short while, just until she regained her bearings. _None of this is making any sense! What the hell is going on?! Instead of getting answers, all I have are more questions!_..

"Oh? Now, isn't this a pleasant surprise.. I'm usually the only one out here this early.." A familiar voice said from somewhere nearby and the ringing in her ears suddenly stopped. Slowly, she lowered her hands from her ears and turned her head, her pale silver eyes wide as she saw the Hokage standing just a few feet away and he paused when he saw her. "Hm..? Kiyomiko? What are you..?"

"Sarutobi-sensei... No.. That can't be right.. " Kiyomiko breathed, the man's eyes widening slightly just before she winced, another sharp jolt of pain shot through her head and she tensed, her palms pressing against her temples as her head lowered slightly, looking at the man with one silver eye open while the other was squeezed shut. "_Gomen_, Hokage-sama.. I.. I thought you were someone else.. You'll have to forgive me if I don't stand to greet you properly.. My head is killing me right now.."

"Is everything alright, child?" The Hokage asked, suddenly kneeling right beside her with a hand on her shoulder and Kiyomiko tensed for a second at his touch before she forced herself to relax. He was trying to comfort her, looking at her with genuine concern on his weathered face, his tone gentle and quiet. "What are you doing out here so early in the morning?"

"I had that stupid dream again.. The one I have every year around this time.. I needed to know what it all meant.." Kiyomiko's voice wavered as the words just tumbled out before she could stop them, the ache in her head strong enough to bring tears to her eyes and she blinked them back as the older man listened to her every word. "It's always the same dream every time, always the same events. I sit at this grave in mid-morning, there's a man behind me, talking to me but I can't understand what he's saying just like I can't read the names on the gravestone.. I find the shed skin of a white snake and the man keeps talking to me, words warped and strange, before everything goes black and cold.. Every time, I wake up with chills and this time was no different except I can't shake the feeling that something is _terribly wrong_.. Like there's a storm coming."

"Well, it sounds to me as though you haven't fully woken up from a rather vivid dream." The Hokage said gently and Kiyomiko paused, turning to look up at the man with an unsure expression, her brows furrowed slightly as the pain in her head began to gradually fade. The Hokage smiled gently and held out one hand to help her up while the other lightly rested on her shoulder. "It's still much too early for someone so young to be awake. You probably had a bad dream and scared yourself. Come now, maybe a bit of a walk will help you to feel better."

"Hn.. Maybe you're right.." Kiyomiko murmured slightly, feeling the exhaustion setting in as she sighed, accepting the man's hand as he helped her stand up. The ache in her head had all but disappeared as she dusted the grass from her white silk yukata and swept a hand through her messy black hair, brushing it out of her eyes as she started to walk with the Hokage, following the man back towards the path and away from the grave. Kiyomiko frowned slightly as she glanced back one last time before she turned away, walking through the large archway and out of the cemetery, onto the quiet road as the sun rose over the eastern mountains. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Hokage-sama. I guess it's possible that I just scared myself but.. I haven't had night terrors that bad in a long time, not so bad that I actually leave the place where I fell asleep.."

"Oh, you don't need to worry. As long as you're feeling better, that's what's important." The Hokage smiled down at her as she walked beside him and she let a ghost of a smile appear on her face as well. She was feeling a little better, now that she was walking, and talking with someone seemed to have helped a little, too. Though.. "I'm actually glad that I ran into you, Kiyomiko. I was going to stop by your apartment later today but seeing as you're here, would you mind if we spoke about something for a little while?"

"Eh..? Oh.. I don't mind, really.." Kiyomiko blinked, her previous thought forgotten and the Hokage nodded, gesturing for her to follow him futher. The two made small-talk as they casually walked down the quiet street, the sun slowly rising over the mountains and bathing the village in a warm golden glow, burning away the mist but not the majority of the late-spring humidity. Turning onto the main road that led through the center of Konoha, however, Kiyomiko noticed that a few people were staring at her as she walked beside the Hokage and that made her uneasy. And then she realized why. Everyone who was staring at her.. They were all her father's age. Almost immediately, Kiyomiko swept her hands through her hair, seemingly taking the Hokage by surprise as she pulled it up out of her face and into a high ponytail, tightly binding it with a strip of long black leather cord. That seemed to help a bit, as people stopped staring and only glanced back a few times instead.

By the time the sun had completely risen above the mountains, business around Konoha was booming and almost everyone seemed surprised to see the Hokage out and about, and even more surprised to see Kiyomiko walking beside him. After a while, though Kiyomiko though that he was just trying to get into her good graces and butter her up for something, the Hokage suggested that they stop at Suzume's teahouse for some breakfast and tea and Kiyomiko agreed, though now she was a little skeptical. The man had mentioned that he wanted to talk to her about something but all they had been doing was talk about trivial matters, weather, the Exams, how she was fitting in now that she was an official resident of Konoha, things of that nature, but Kiyomiko said nothing about it as she followed the Hokage into the teahouse and sat down at her usual table, which ironically, was the same table that the Hokage had been heading for as well.

"Oh! Kiyo-chii!" Suzume's voice reached Kiyomiko's ears and the young girl flinched as a the older girl's brightly smiling face appeared beside her. The Hokage sat down across the table, seemingly amused by the display as Suzume clasped Kiyomiko's hands in her own, giving the younger girl an almost pleading expression. Instantly, Kiyomiko knew something was up and she stared up at the older girl as like a cat trying to get out of a bath. "You're _just_ the girl I needed to see this morning! Listen, I want you to try something, okay? I got the idea a few days ago, made some up last night and now I need someone to taste test! You're the only person I trust to give me a _completely_ unbiased opinion!"

"If I agree to taste whatever it is, will you stop touching me?" Kiyomiko asked, her whole body rigid as she leaned away from Suzume, though the older girl took no offense, she knew that was just how Kiyomiko was and she was taking full advantage of it. It was a little awkward, trying to relax and act normal with the Hokage around, though Suzume seemed to notice and she was probably trying to help, in her own way. After a second, it was decided that Kiyomiko was going to taste test a new item and Suzume ran off into the back room to collect it, plus some tea and dango for the Hokage. Kiyomiko just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What did I just agree to..?"

Less than a minute passed before both Suzume _and_ Suzuki appeared, both of them with bright and somewhat calculating smiles as they each carried a wooden tray, one laden with tea and dango while the other was covered by a thin white linen cloth. Once the tea and dango was set down, Suzume set the covered tray down in front of Kiyomiko, pausing for dramatic effect before she pulled the cloth away with a near comical flourish, Kiyomiko's eyes widening at what she saw. Three palm-sized mizu-manju sat in a little glass bowl of water, the sweet scent of raspberries and peaches reaching her nose as she gazed at the peach-shaped manju, the slightly transparent skin flushed a beautiful and almost iridescent shade of pink-orange from the raspberry-peach puree filling and what appeared to be a light glaze. It was so extravagent! Almost immediately, Kiyomiko was in love with the little manju but she quickly masked her expression as best she could, trying to keep up appearances like the seasoned food-critic she was.

"Well, I'll admit that your presentation is impressive." Kiyomiko drawled coolly as she lightly cleared her throat, looking almost businesslike as she picked up the tiny spoon, setting one of the pretty little confections on a small ceramic plate. The Hokage watched with a quirked brow while Suzume and Suzuki stood at the end of the table with bated breath as Kiyomiko used the little spoon to slit open one of the peach-shaped manju, the normally gooey puree filling chilled to the point where it wouldn't ooze out and make a mess. As soon as Kiyomiko popped a spoonful of the mizu-manju-goodness into her mouth, she paused for a moment and silence reigned throughout the already quiet teahouse. And then a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "Ah! I'm in heaven!"

A few seconds passed before pandemonuim struck, both Suzume and Suzuki squealing with joy at a job well done while the Hokage actually openly laughed at the look of bliss that had replaced Kiyomiko's normally stoic and spaced-out expression. Kiyomiko ignored them all as she sat back and enjoyed the sinfully lavish mizu manju, an impish smile on her youthful face. For once, she looked her age. When she had finally recovered from the initial shock of encountering heaven, Kiyomiko sat Suzume down with a notebook and pencil and the older girl began to take notes on what the younger girl thought would be best to serve with the mizu-manju, down to the preparation of various teas that would compliment the flavors, which only took about twenty minutes. Once the food was eaten, Suzume and Suzuki returned to the back room and Kiyomiko and the Hokage sat back and enjoyed the amiable quiet, calmly sipping their tea while a few good-natured chuckles would occasionally escape the Hokage. All in all, it had been quite an experience.

"So, you mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about something?" Kiyomiko asked finally, setting her clay cup down on the wooden table in front of her as she straightened in her seat, resting her hands in her lap, her expression gradually returning to it's usual blank and businesslike state.

"Ah, yes. Well, first, I ask that you keep an open mind and hear what I have to say before jumping to conclusions." The Hokage interjected lightly, setting his cup down as well, holding up one weathered hand as if to ask for patience. Kiyomiko blinked for a second before an eyebrow quirked, the girl now skeptical though still interested, before she nodded a go-ahead and the man continued. "I was wondering if you would be willing to take on the Amatsuki name and reveal yourself as a member of the fallen clan, since Amatsuki Aria _is_, by all accounts, your mother. Now, there _is_ a rather tactical undertone to this request. If you would agree to this, you would be revealing yourself to the entirity of the Five Nations during the Third Exam, which I'm sure you already know is quite a busy event."

"Okay.. While I'm still keeping an open mind and hearing you out, why would I do such a thing? What's the edge?" Kiyomiko asked, an eyebrow plainly quirked as she rested an unwavering silvery stare upon the Hokage, which he met rather easily.

"Amatsuki Aria went missing over thirty years ago. I personally declared her dead when the best shinobi could not locate any traces of her after a full year of searching." The Hokage explained, his voice lowering even though they both knew they were alone, Kiyomiko's brow furrowing slightly as she heard the gravity of the man's tone. "However, seeing as you are not thirty years old, yet you are still her daughter, that leads me to believe that Aria is still very much alive, though her current circumstances are unknown. I do not believe that she would have left the village willingly, not under the terms with which she disappeared. I knew her as a child, you see. She was the best friend of one of my students and they were often inseperable. If we were to alert the world that there is still one with the Amatsuki bloodline left in Konoha, Aria may come home."

"Wait a minute.. You just said "still one with the Amatsuki bloodline left"... Keywords being "still one left".." Kiyomiko asked, her features hardening slightly as she folded her arms across her chest and continued to stare at the man, now analyzing _everything_. "What aren't you telling me, Hokage-sama?"

"You're right. I should have been up-front with this information right away. I had forgotten that this is not such a well-known fact outside of Konoha." The Hokage sighed, his expression relaxing into one of somber exhaustion as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes for a moment before he continued. "The Amatsuki clan.. The _entire_ Amatsuki clan, with the exception of it's leader, Aria, was found dead in their compound over thirty years ago. Men and women, from infants to elders, all laid down in their beds one winter night and seemingly passed away in their sleep. I tasked the best medical minds in the village with discovering the cause of death only to find that there was none. There was nothing, no logical reason for any of it.. They were all healers, medical-nin and the entire clan was in startlingly perfect health. They all just.. died. To my knowledge, you and now possibly Aria, are the only ones left. If we were to locate Aria, we may be able to find out what happened that night and how to prevent it from happening again."

"Isn't there a remarkably large possibility that something like what you're suggesting could backfire rather dramatically?" Kiyomiko reasoned with a somewhat diplomatic and studious tone. "I'll admit that I know nothing about the Amatsuki clan and even less about Aria in particular but, to me, there seems to be a large number of variables at play here, most of which don't seem to have been considered. If I were to agree to this and take on the Amatsuki name, I could be putting myself in even more danger than I'm already in and there's a possibility that it would only drive Aria away while attracting the attention of whoever killed the clan."

"I'll admit that this is a rather bold move, one with a considerable amount of risk. Not to belittle your talents but normally, I wouldn't ask _anyone_ this, least of all a young girl who only just became recognized as a Genin." The Hokage interjected, folding his arms in the table in front of him as he levelled a serious gaze at Kiyomiko. "This incident has been one of my two greatest failures as the Hokage of Konoha and it has been weighing heavily on my mind for over thirty years. I believe that this may be the only chance at gaining new information and possibly learning what really happened that night. If Aria were to return.. It would be nothing short of a miracle."

Kiyomiko frowned slightly as she lowered her gaze to the rough surface of the wooden table in front of her, arms folded across her chest as she processed the flood of information, the scent of tea and dango wafting around her while the Hokage sat silent, seemingly allowing her time to think. She would be risking her life for information that may or may not even exist, for a woman who may or may not even be alive anymore. Even if Aria was alive, she may not even care that she had a daughter out there somewhere. After all, where had Aria been for the last thirteen years while Kiyomiko had been left alone with her father? The outer edges of Kiyomiko's pale silver eyes darkened a shade at the thought before she shook it away with a light sigh, biting the inside of her lower lip as the questions just kept coming, one right after another. After what seemed like forever, Kiyomiko raised her eyes to look up at the Hokage with a determined stare.

"I'll do it."

-(o.o)-

The next two weeks flew by in a blur. The Hokage had sent Kurumi-kun, not surprisingly, to Kiyomiko's apartment with a stack of books detailing the Amatsuki clan's history from an outsider's perspective, which really didn't tell her much but Kiyomiko was good at filling in the blanks. The Hokage wasn't kidding when he said that the Amatsuki clan was a clan of healers and medical-nin. They were the _top minds_ in their fields, second to none, for as long as anyone could remember. Now, however, she had to focus on two things at once. In the mornings, she would leave a shadow clone at her apartment to read and re-read the books that the Hokage had given her, memorizing every single detail and rehearsing responses from the information she had, while the original Kiyomiko would go out and train all day, day after day, once again falling into an exhausting and tedious repetition. Yuki was helping her out a great deal, offering advice wherever he could, be it ninjustu or taijutsu, and Kiyomiko would follow his word to the very letter as she attempted to push passed the growing feeling that something was coming and that she needed to be prepared.

On the morning of the Third and final Exam, Kiyomiko woke before dawn, curled up on her side on the floor in her sitting room, her pale silver eyes open as if she'd been awake for hours, and that was probably because she had. The air felt charged, as if the world had hushed, waiting for something, but there was no signs of the storm she'd thought was coming. The eastern horizon was just beginning to lighten to a soft indigo, the skies were clear and cloud-free, a gentle breeze scattering the humidity of the last few days and even the temperature was almost pleasant, despite summer just being around the corner. Slowly, Kiyomiko sat up and stood, looking around with a blank expression as she padded into her empty bedroom. Every possible thing she could have done up until now had already been done, her clothes laid out with her weapons neatly lined up on the bed, a modest meal packed, every line of the Hokage's books perfectly memorized word for word.. All she needed to do was bathe, eat and then leave.. But.. what was this eerie silence..? This calm-before-the-storm feeling? It was like.. something inside of her was screaming at her that something terrible was going to happen any minute now.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Kiyomiko padded into the bathroom and quickly bathed, returning to her bedroom a few minutes later to stand in front of the mirror hung on the back of her closet door as she dressed. The first thing she did was pull on a pair of loose white silk shorts that belled and gathered just below her knees, then a white silk cheongsam dress with pale blue trim, something similar to Sakura's but sleeveless and tighter, showing off her fragility for tactical reasons. After that, she slipped her feet into a pair of new geta, laquered white, and put on a pair of identical pale blue bracelets before she tied her forehead protector around her neck like a dog collar, hiding her scars in the process. Her fingertails and toenails were painted white and her pale silver eyes were lined with charcoal, a pale blue-white eyeshadow brushed over her eyelids while a clear gloss covered her lips, her long black hair loose down her back and hanging down to the swell of her hips while her bangs were gathered and secured on either side of her face by the silver tube-like clasps.

As a last act, Kiyomiko grabbed a thick black marker from her knapsack and started to draw on her left bicep. She knew the symbol perfectly, she'd seen it every day since she was a young girl. First a perfect circle, then a crescent moon on the inside left of the circle and a small cloud on the inside right of the circle, and Kiyomiko drew the symbol perfectly. It was the symbol engraved upon the spines of her fan, the same fan that her father had given to her as a child, the same fan that had once belonged to her "mother". It was also the Amatsuki clan crest, like the Uchiha's fan symbol or the Nara's wave-shadow symbol. This was the last thing she'd needed to do before she was ready and now Kiyomiko looked at her appearance in the mirror with a slightly surprised expression. She looked _vastly_ more delicate than she remembered, the cheongsam hugging her body like a second skin of silk, showing off just how thin and fragile she really was, but there was also something else, something almost.. ethereal.. about her as the first rays of the morning sun filtered through the thin white linen curtains behind her. Her snow-white skin was almost glittering in the light and the pale blue accents of her make-up and the silk trim of her clothes against her pure white skin made her look like she'd been.. frozen.. Like she was some fragile and delicate creature from the far northern snows, too weak to protect itself. And then a dangerous smirk appeared on her face. _Hn. The Ice Princess of Konoha, indeed. This will work in my favor_.

Grabbing a thin strip of white linen, Kiyomiko tied it around her left bicep, covering the clan symbol for now as she picked up her knapsack and settled it onto her back, leaving no traces of herself behind as walked out onto the balcony and swung her legs over the railing, dropping into the alleyway below, landing with a gust of frigid pale blue chakra as her geta gave a monotone click as she touched down. Walking out of the shadowy alleyway and into the street, everything that had once been colorful and bright seemed dulled, as if the colors of the world were muted by a thin grey sheet and her uneasiness grew, though her expression betrayed nothing, appearing calm and collected even as people stopped in their tracks and stared at her, whispering to one another as she passed. Some of the villagers even hesitantly approached her, bowing their heads in greeting and wishing her luck during the Third Exam and she just politely smiled back and thanked them, however obviously false their nervous smiles were. _Won't they be surprised when I'm announced during the matches?_ She needed to get away from them, make her way towards the Stadium in the center of the village and this was just taking too long. Granted, she was about two hours early, but she prided herself on her punctuality, unlike a certain silver-haired Jonin who shall remain unnamed for the sake of her sanity.

Rounding a corner onto a quiet sidestreet, Kiyomiko had _hoped_ to use it as a shortcut to the stadium, the high walls of the arena coming into view in the distance. Unfortunately, however, the normally quiet sidestreet was _packed_ with people, all of them travelling towards the stadium at a pace that would make even a snail feel like a speed-demon. Most of the people travelling on foot were wearing matching outfits and Kiyomiko could easily identify them as servants, while they all followed an extravagent and lavish cart that probably carried the Daimyo and his family. _Great. Another hold up. Well, better take the high road._ Kiyomiko sighed before she gave one fluid leap, hopping up onto the six-foot-tall wooden fence that lined the road, her geta clicking primly atop the two-inch-wide surface that she walked upon, her arms casually folded across her chest as she made her way towards the stadium without even slowing her pace. More and more people were staring at her, obviously surprised, but she knew that the Daimyo's servants probably weren't used to being around real shinobi. It still bothered her when a few of them pointed and laughed, clapping as if she were some kind of street performer putting on a show when all she was doing was walking. However, the commotion unfortunately drew the attention of the Daimyo's family.

"Ooh! Mama, look! It's a real ninja!" A child cooed from within the cart and Kiyomiko glanced to her left to see the small, chubby hand of a toddler hanging out of one of the cart's screen-covered windows, pointing directly at her and she sighed slightly when she saw the figure of an older woman pull back the screen, following the child's gaze. The woman was around middle-aged, though she didn't look it, slender and pretty. She obviously wasn't Madam Shijimi, the rather robust and whimsical wife of the Fire Daimyo and cat-crazed owner of Tora. _Hm._.

"Yes, I think you're right, dear." The woman responded with a light and airy tone as she stroked the child's hair, a motherly smile on her kind-looking face as she looked down at the toddler. Kiyomiko's brow twitched once before she looked away, feeling some strange chill in her chest as she forced herself to keep walking and not run, though she could still hear the woman's voice. "Honey, isn't that little girl one of the contestants in the matches today?"

_Some days, man.. Some damn days, I really hate my heightened senses_. Kiyomiko sighed slightly as she heard a shuffle of movement from within the cart and the screen curtain covering the second window was pushed aside, revealing a rather ornery-looking man, though she couldn't help but think that that was the normal state of his face. He was an older man with dark and beedy eyes, a greying mustache and a full beard, pointed downwards like an upside-down triangle, wearing lavish brown and white robes and probably the most ridiculous hat she'd ever seen in her entire life but she showed no signs of her obvious amusement. He was the Daimyo of the Land of Earth, somewhat famous for his impatience, and he was staring right at her. A small group of servants walked between the ox-cart and the fence upon which Kiyomiko walked, the servants talking in hushed tones as they glanced back and forth between the Daimyo and Kiyomiko as if they were nervous about something.

"You there.. Girl." The Daimyo spoke up, pointing down to one of the servant girls walking in the crowd between the cart and the fence and she looked up, her eyes wide. She seemed to be a few years older than Kiyomiko, probably fifteen or sixteen, pretty like Suzume in an understated and traditional way. "Who is that little girl there, walking along the fence?"

"Oh, that would be the Ice Princess of Konoha, Kiyomiko-sama, My Lord!" The girl said quickly and Kiyomiko quirked a brow at 'sama'. She'd never been called that before, not even by the servants of her father. Mildly interested in the newest gossip about her, Kiyomiko listened to the girl as she spoke, her tone happy and excited as she spoke with the Daimyo. "I heard that she's an orphan from outside the village and that she graduated from the Academy within one week, her grades tying with those of Uchiha Sasuke at the top of her class! She even fought against a Chunin Proxy in the preliminaries last month and it turned out to be her own teacher in the Academy! She beat him in five minutes without breaking a sweat!"

Kiyomiko sighed lightly, one pale silver eye open and facing forward as she walked along the fence, feeling the _painfully obvious_ stares of shock and envy from a few of the servants walking along the road to her left, her blank expression portraying an image of calm, distinterest and boredom. The servant girl was now staring at Kiyomiko with obvious stars of envy in her eyes, looking remarkably like Lee when he was all pumped up over something, but Kiyomiko ignored the girl as if she hadn't overheard the conversation, her geta clicking out a monotone rhythm as she walked along the top of the fence, arms folded across her chest and her head down, one eye open and looking straight ahead. The stadium was drawing closer and closer with every step, she just needed to put up with this crap long enough to get to the arena and then she could disappear and everything would be-.

"Is that true, child?" The Daimyo's deep voice boomed over the din of the sound of feet, ox hooves and rolling wheels, the man raising his voice and speaking slowly as if he assumed that Kiyomiko wouldn't understand the language and her eyebrow twitched once in annoyance, though that remained unseen. _Aristocrats are so annoying._. She could feel him looking at her, his dark eyes trained on her as if he didn't believe a word of what his servant had said to him. At the man's command, the ox-cart and the procession of servants slowed to a halt and Kiyomiko paused, not wanting to be _too_ rude by ignoring the obscenely rich man with a temper and scores of shinobi at his command.

"No, My Lord." Kiyomiko answered calmly, her voice gentle and refined like a highborn lady of the court as she turned to face the man directly, surprising all of the servants when she met the man's gaze instead of shying away from it. In that moment, Kiyomiko had put on a different mask, one of a cultured, elegant and sophisticated young girl born of the highest nobility, a mask that she had taken great pains to perfect. "I was able to defeat and restrain my Chunin sensei within _three_ minutes, without breaking a sweat. All other details, however, are accurate."

"Hm.. I was not aware that the Land of Fire had acquired such a skilled shinobi, even one as young as yourself." The Daimyo mused, stroking his chin as if he were deep in thought for a moment before he returned his gaze to Kiyomiko. "How old are you, girl? Fifteen?"

"Thirteen last mid-winter, My Lord." Kiyomiko corrected smoothly, almost smirking when she saw the flicker of surprise on the man's face as well as the obvious stares of shock on the servants' faces. She was mildly surprised that the man had assumed she was older when almost everyone she met thought she was actually _younger_ than she looked, oftentimes confusing her for a ten or eleven year old because of her youthful face and slender proportions, even for a child. Though, apparently the servants' had been overestimating her age as well, judging by their expressions.

"Ha! Well, you're still plenty young, then! Listen, girl, if you ever get tired of the Land of Fire, you could always come to the Land of Earth and work for me!" The man half-laughed, half-barked, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes as Kiyomiko paused for a moment, her expression going almost _startlingly_ blank though the man didn't seem to notice his folly as he continued. "I'm sure Iwagakure would be _delighted_ to have you!"

"Forgive me, My Lord, but I have no intentions of leaving this village any time soon." Kiyomiko rebuffed, her tone flat and emotionless, taking everyone on the street by surprise as a chill formed in the air and a fox-like smirk appeared on her impish features. "Besides, I've been to the Land of Earth once before and I noticed that it is an arid and desolate land without water or forests. Though I will admit that the "Ice Princess of Iwa" _does_ have a nicer ring to it, I'm afraid that the scenery of Iwa simply does not appeal to me, so I shall remain the Ice Princess of Konoha. Besides, I've grown rather fond of this village and it's people. Now, if you'll excuse me-."

Without another word, Kiyomiko ignored the man's obviously startled and somewhat irritated expression as she turned on the fence and started walking again._ Hn. Acting like I'm some kind of street performer or mercenary for hire, huh? I'll show them something that will _really_ mess with their feeble little minds!_ Kiyomiko took one step, then two before all of a sudden, in the middle of her third step, a frigid and blustery wind howled around her in a small cyclone of ice and snow, her small form disappearing completely in the blink of an eye. _The nerve of that man, trying to poach shinobi from other villages during the Exams! Ugh!_ Kiyomiko reappeared a second later with a soft growl as the winds died down, scattering a small amount of snow and chips of ice through the ankle-high grass as she stood in front of the Contestants' entrance along a quiet side of the Konoha Arena, two wide-eyed guards standing on either side of the grand stone archway.

"Whoa, you're really early, kid." One of the guards said as Kiyomiko walked up the stone steps towards the archway, both guards looking mildly exhausted as if they'd been standing there all night. "Only staff has arrived so far, you're the first contestant."

"I need to speak with the proctor for this exam. I believe his name is Gekko Hayate." Kiyomiko said calmly, sweeping a hand through her long black hair as she came to a stop between the two guards as one of them reached out to one of the two heavy doors, both men pausing for a moment when they heard her. "Is he here yet?"

"Uhm.. I'm afraid Hayate isn't the proctor for this exam, miss. He was murdered a few nights ago.." One of the guards said, a slight frown appearing on his face before he continued. "Shiranui Genma has taken over the Third Exam, at the request of the Hokage."

"Hm.. Fine, then. Where is he?" Kiyomiko asked, her brow furrowing slightly as she folded her arms across her chest. _Gekko Hayate was murdered a few nights ago..? By who?.. Well, I doubt these guys know and even if they do know, I doubt they'd be willing to tell me. Regardless, the Hokage needs to know that the Daimyo are trying to poach the contestants. I just hope that this doesn't have anything to do with my uneasy feeling.._.

"Genma's just inside, probably napping in the tree in the Arena." The other guard chuckled slightly and Kiyomiko quirked a brow but she didn't question the men further as the guard opened the door for her.

Sweeping passed the two guards, Kiyomiko entered the long tunnel leading into the Arena with a confident pace, her arms folded across her chest as her geta clicked primly across the concrete paving tiles until the bright morning light washed over her and she entered the Arena. It was massive, a huge circular patch of dirt with grass and a few trees with towering stone walls, at least a seventy feet high, surrounding it. Above the high beige-colored stone walls was the seating areas, different levels denoting different social standings with the common folk on the lower levels while the Kages, Daimyos and special dignitaries got their own little rooms, complete with refreshments, judging by the scents in the air. For a moment, Kiyomiko paused, her pale silver eyes darkening a shade as she remembered the cold, dark underground arena that her father had created for her to train in, rows upon rows of prisoner cages lining the outer walls of the four-story chamber... It looked exactly like this. But this time would be different because _she_ was different.

After a moment, Kiyomiko shook herself from her thoughts and turned towards one of the two trees within the Arena, detecting the scent of pumpkin and summer squash where it didn't belong and she walked towards it. She could see a leg hanging from one of the branches and she sighed, a little envious of this guy's carefree attitude as she came to a stop at the bottom of the tree. He was a relatively young man, late twenties maybe, with shoulder-length brown hair hanging around his face, fair skin and relatively handsome features, at least from what she could tell, his forehead protector worn over his head like a bandanna with the metal turned 'round to guard the back of his head, and the standard outfit of a Konoha Jonin, a senbon sticking out of his mouth. He was stretched out on a low branch, hands knit together behind his head and a leg stretched across the branch while the other dangled over the edge and his eyes were closed as if he were asleep but Kiyomiko knew differently. She could hear his breathing from where she stood.

"I already know that you're not asleep, Shiranui Genma." Kiyomiko drawled with a light sigh, folding her arms across her chest as she looked up at the man, seeing the corners of his lips twitch upwards once into a flicker of a smirk. "I need to talk to you about something and it needs to go to the Hokage right away."

"Hn. Hayate was right, you _are_ impressive." Genma smirked slightly as he opened his eyes and sat up, looking down at Kiyomiko from his perch upon the branch. His eyes were a calm brown color, his expression portraying a sort of good-natured sarcasm and dry humor. Instantly, Kiyomiko liked him, but she didn't show it. "So, what did you need, _Kiyomiko_?"

"Yes, very nice, you know my name, congratulations." Kiyomiko replied dryly as the man slipped down from the branch and landed next to her, his hands stuffed into his pockets as she looked up at him with one silver eye open. "I was on my way here when I passed by the procession for the Daimyo of the Land of Earth. The Daimyo asked me a few things and he tried to recruit me to Iwa when he found out my age, spouting some nonsense about how Iwagakure would be delighted to have me, as if I was too young to understand what was really going on. I figured that the Hokage should at least be aware of it. This may be the Chunin Exams, where gambling and showing off run rampant, but that seemed pretty low regardless."

"Man.. That was pretty fast. Normally stuff like that doesn't happen until after the matches have already begun and we're too busy to do anything about it." Genma sighed, the senbon in his mouth bobbing slightly as he spoke before he formed a seal with his hands and a shadow clone of himself appeared beside him, the clone turning and taking off in the direction of the Kage's box before the real Genma turned back to Kiyomiko with a slightly quirked brow. "Is there something else?"

"Yes. I'm not sure if the Hokage mentioned this, but I'd like you to use my full name when you announce me to the crowd." Kiyomiko stated simply as she half-looked up at the man to her left, a slight smirk appearing on her impish features when he seemed a little puzzled. He watched as she reached one hand up to her left arm, delicate fingers pinching the thin layer of bandages over her bicep before she pulled them down just enough to reveal the clan symbol she'd drawn on her pale white skin, a touch of amusement in her voice as she continued. "Amatsuki Kiyomiko."

"Well, I'll be damned.. Haven't heard anything about that clan since I was still in the Academy. Alright, kid. If you know what you're getting yourself into, then I'll do it." Genma smirked slightly as Kiyomiko pulled the bandages back into place, covering the mark as the man snapped his fingers as if he'd just remembered something. "Just out of curiousity, what answer did you give the Daimyo?"

"Hn. _Baka_. I turned him down cold, of course. No pun intended." Kiyomiko smirked slightly as she folded her arms across her chest, looking up at the man with one eye pale silver eye open. "I've been to the Land of Earth once before already. It's boring. Rock, rock and more rock. I'm a water and wind user and I _hate_ dry heat. I'd sooner go to Kirigakure!"

"Well, lucky for Konoha the Daimyo of the Land of Water is one of the few of the Daimyos that don't try to poach contestants." Genma chuckled and shook his head slightly before he turned and hopped back up into the tree, settling himself on the branch he'd been lounging on before.

With her business concluded, Kiyomiko now had the chance to evaluate where she would be fighting. That had been the whole reason for arriving as early as she had and Kiyomiko turned and walked into the center of the Arena, slipping off her geta to feel the sun-soaked soil beneath her feet as she closed her eyes and just listened, feeling the area around her while Genma seemed to be watching her with one eye open. The air flow was peculiar here, mostly downdrafts from the high walls, so it would be a little difficult to work with if she didn't prepare for that beforehand. Another problem she noticed was just how dry the earth was beneath her, almost dusty, and she frowned slightly as she crouched down, pressing one hand down in the dirt, her pale silver eyes closed. _It hasn't rained for days and the humidity from the last few weeks is completely gone, despite it being late spring. That's going to make working with water harder too.. Unless.. Hmm._.

"What are you doing?" A familiar and irritating voice reached her ears, coming from behind her, and Kiyomiko sighed as she stood up, opening her pale silver eyes as she turned to see Neji standing behind her, his arms folded across his self-important chest and a calculating glare on his face as he looked at her. _Well, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine today? Hello to you too, sourpuss_.

"I'm thinking. Preparing." Kiyomiko answered calmly as she slipped her feet back into her geta without looking away from Neji. It was true, her eyes did look very similar to Neji's Byakugan, neither of them had pupils, but his eyes were white like clouds with a slightly lavender tint to them, whereas her eyes were silver like a well-polished blade or a clear mirror, darkening to a stormy grey at the outer edges. They were different enough and she supposed that was good. One occular ability was already enough trouble. "I figured that I'd get here early and memorize the layout of the Arena, since I'm fighting first."

"Hn. What's there to memorize?" Neji scoffed, glancing around at the Arena with his usual sour expression, looking every bit as high-and-mighty as Sasuke had when she first met him. "It's just a circular field with a few trees and bushes, some patches of grass and dirt. It's no different from anywhere else in the village except it has walls."

"You can go ahead and keep thinking stuff like that but, ultimately, you're wrong." Kiyomiko responded with a dry and drawling tone as she sighed, her expression clearly showing that she had grown bored of the conversation as she folded her arms across her chest and turned, walking towards what she assumed was the waiting area for the contestants, feeling Neji's glare on her back as she heard Genma slip down from the tree and walk into the Arena, probably curious about what was being said.

"What did you just say?" Neji asked, the venom in his voice causing Kiyomiko to pause and turn with a quirked brow, as if she were only mildly interested in his irritation.

"I said you're wrong, Neji." Kiyomiko answered simply, completely unphased by the Hyuga's angry male posturing as she ignored the deadly glare she was recieving, looking back at the older boy with a totally bored expression. "You have eyes, don't you? Use them. If there's any hope of you actually becoming a somewhat decent shinobi some day, you have to learn to look beneath the surface in every situation, during war and especially peace. It's common knowledge, _aho_."

Without another word, Kiyomiko ignored Neji's infuriated splutterings and Genma's well-hidden chuckles as she turned on one heel and walked up towards the contestants' waiting area which, much to her dismay, was little more than a giant _concrete_ box with a few _concrete_ benches shoved up against a wall or two, one of the _concrete_ walls removed and replaced with a railing that was little more than a waist-high _concrete_ slab that would allow the contestants to watch the battles. Kiyomiko's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she looked around, wondering if it's too late to go and challenge Genma for his seat in the tree, feeling almost painfully cornered in such an enclosed space. Pushing passed her feelings, Kiyomiko walked to the concrete slab railing and perched herself on top of it, leaning back against one of the support pillars as she folded her arms across her chest. From there, she could see both the entire contestant's box, the whole Arena and even the stairs between the two.

Seemingly satisfied with her location, she allowed her eyes to close as she waited, looking just as dreadfully bored as she really felt. After a few seconds, however, she heard Genma say something to the effect of 'She's right, y'know.', and she smirked. About a minute passed before she heard Neji's startled gasp and her smirk widened slightly, knowing that he had used his Byakugan to _look beneath the surface_. She _loved_ it when she was proven right. There was a vein of underground water beneath the Arena, about fifty feet down, and Kiyomiko had felt it with Yuki's chakra as soon as she'd taken off her geta. She'd pressed her hand against the soil to get a sense of how large it was, sending tiny amounts of chakra into the soil like Sonar. Just one of the many tricks that Yuki had taught her over the last three weeks. If she couldn't find water on the surface, all she had to do was look _down_, though that didn't necessarily mean that she would always find water beneath her. Some areas are just too rocky and solid, and any water deeper than about sixty or seventy feet would take a massive amount of chakra to bring up, and then it would just be easier to draw moisture from the air itself.. _Oh, great. Here's Neji_.

"So, the rumors are true then. You _do_ have some kind of occular ability." Neji's voice came from somewhere nearby and Kiyomiko sighed, opening one pale silver eye to see the boy standing inside the concrete room to her left, his eyes narrowed on her as she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, looking totally disinterested.

"I'm not going to confirm or deny any rumors for you, Neji, because I don't trust you. I don't have time for foolishness like that. You could just as easily use that information against me if we ever became opponents. Forgive me if this seems rude but a good shinobi sould always have the element of surprise." Kiyomiko drawled lightly, still only looking at the boy with one silver eye open. She could tell that he was angry, furious that someone a year younger than him and a _rookie_, no less, was lecturing him but she didn't care. Just as she had expected, Neji lost his temper and he was beside her a split second later, shoving her off of the concrete railing. Mentally, she just sighed at his predictability.

Kiyomiko opened both eyes as she looked down, the ground rushing up to meet her as she curled her body into a catlike crouch and pulsed a cushion of chakra from her hands and feet before she landed on all fours like an animal, dispelling her pale blue chakra in a large gust of freezing air that shot right back up the wall and startled Neji as he leaned over the railing, eyes wide when he was nearly blown backwards. Standing up in one fluid motion, Kiyomiko calmly dusted herself off and smoothed her long black hair as she walked towards the center of the Arena, where a mildly annoyed-looking Genma stood looking up at Neji as if he wanted to scold the boy but Kiyomiko gave the man a dismissive wave and everything quieted down for a while. Almost as soon as Kiyomiko reached the center of the Arena, Gaara and his siblings walked out of the tunnel and she turned to look at him, a genuine smile appearing on her youthful face as she waved at Gaara in greeting. Much to the surprise of Temari and Kankuro, Gaara paused for a moment and raised a hand in something like a half-hearted wave before he continued on towards the stairs leading up to the contestants' box.

Over time, more and more contestants arrived as the stadium began to quickly fill up with spectators, hundreds of people filtering into the seating areas high above the Arena as they all chattered and cheered, their voices echoing and nearly giving her a migraine, though she was soon distracted by the appearance of Shikamaru walking out of the tunnel towards her. His head was lowered, shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets and his usual expression of boredom on his face and Kiyomiko smirked slightly, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at him. _He probably woke up hours ago but didn't want to get out of bed to turn off the alarm because he was too lazy, just like always_. She couldn't help chuckling at that thought and Shikamaru heard her and glanced up, coming to a sharp stop a few feet away, his dark eyes slightly wider than normal as he took in her appearance.

"K-kiyo-chan.." Shikamaru blinked for a moment, as if he thought he was dreaming or something before he quickly caught himself and recovered, one eyebrow quirked as he continued to shuffle towards her, standing next to her as his exhausted and bored expression returned. "You look like you're going out on a date or something wearing that dress and make-up, not waiting for a battle."

"Oh? Was that an offer, Shikamaru-kun?" Kiyomiko gave a sly smirk, her tone smooth and feminine as she snuck up behind the boy and suddenly wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her chin on his shoulder from behind, taking him by surprise and she laughed when a blush quickly formed across his cheeks. "Oh my! How interesting! It's a pink pineapple!"

"_Ugh_.. Why would I wanna go out on a date with you? All girls are just troublesome!" Shikamaru groused as he freed himself from her grasp, his face bright pink from the blush that covered his cheeks, before he took a few backwards steps away from Kiyomiko to what he probably assumed was a safe enough distance. All the while, Genma watched the scene with a quirked eyebrow. "And you're the most troublesome girl of all, Kiyo-chan. You're the only one I can't figure out."

"Well, if you weren't always playing shogi all the time... Hm.. Yeah, I got nothin'." Kiyomiko sighed, stretching her arms up and knitting her fingers together behind her head, her expression once again returning to boredom after running out of quips to tease him with, which seemed to surprise the boy a great deal. She wasn't in the mood for much joking, not today when she had to fight.. Not today, when she felt that nagging sensation in the back of her mind, cold tickling down her spine. No. Not cold, electricity. Anticipation.. _excitement_.. She was going to announce herself as an Amatsuki and put herself in danger while the whole world was watching her.. and she would fight.

A small frown appeared on her face as her brows furrowed slightly before she turned and started walking back towards the stairs that led up to the contestants' box, raising a hand over her shoulder in a lazy wave. _Is that what's wrong? After all that's happened, agreeing to participate in the Chunin Exams, running into my father, all of this business with my blood, being betrayed by Kakashi, finding out who my mother was, even that dream.. Has it all put me under too much strain? Am I starting to lose control?_ Kiyomiko's frown deepened slightly as she looked down at her open palm while she walked up the stone stairs, her pale silver eyes shadowed as a soft sigh escaped her. Pushing her thoughts aside, Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and stood in the concrete landing between the Arena and the contestants' box, her eyes lowered to the floor at her feet. She didn't want to go back up there after all, not when something about this whole situation just seemed wrong. Closing her eyes, Kiyomiko focused on listening to the world around her, waiting for her cue to battle.

Through the muddled and mixing voices of the spectators, she could hear talking out in the Arena, Genma and Shikamaru, as well as Shino and Naruto. She couldn't make out what was being said but she could tell by the tone in which the words were spoken that it was a casual conversation, idle musings about the upcoming battles before she heard Naruto's voice pause and a new scent reached her. Old straw and metal. Dosu had arrived. Almost as soon as she realized it, she heard Genma say something, probably to Naruto, Shikamaru and Shino, before casual footsteps approached the stairs. It was time. Biting her lower lip, Kiyomiko reached up to her left bicep and tugged away the thin strip of linen covering the Amatsuki family crest, letting the fabric fall to the floor as she swept her hands through her hair, smoothing it, her eyes still closed and her expression a mask of perfect calm as she waited for her cue. She could hear the Hokage's voice booming over the ruckus of the spectators, welcoming everyone as if they were all long-time friends. Then she heard Genma's voice.

"And now, for the first match of the day!" The man's voice sounded almost.. cheerful, which made her quirk a brow as the spectators started to cheer, impatient for the battles to begin. They had no idea what was about to happen. "Kinuta Dosu of the newly-founded Otogakure versus _Amatsuki Kiyomiko_, the Ice Princess of Konohagakure!"

Dead silence.

_There's no going back now... Let the show begin_. Kiyomiko sighed softly as her expression relaxed into a crystalline mask of perfect calm before her body disappeared from the concrete stairwell on a gust of cold air. Everything was silent within the Arena before a strangely brisk wind began to form, the only sound coming from the rustling of the leaves before there was a soft whisper of silk fabric and the gentle and monotone click of geta. The temperature in the air within the Arena had dropped dramatically as a circular patch of thick frost had formed at her feet, her long black hair swaying in the blustery cold wind and her pale silver eyes narrowed, taking on a dangerous gleam as she set an unwavering and emotionless silvery gaze upon Dosu. Just like that, Kiyomiko appeared, no words, no fanfare, to applause, she was just there and she didn't give a damn what anyone had to say about it, the Amatsuki symbol proudly painted black and displayed on the pure white skin of her left bicep. She could hear the whispers around her, feel the startled stares of the spectators and even most of the contestants, but she ignored them. She had to focus.

"Dosu... Withdraw." Kiyomiko's voice was quiet but hard and cold, every bit as devoid of emotion as her eyes, her hands calmly relaxed at her sides while the older boy gaped at her, one visible eye wide as he took in her appearance from such a close distance. _Why is he so surprised..? He saw me before, at the preliminar-... No! He recognizes me!_ Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed dangerously as the thought wormed it's way into her mind and a low growl formed beneath her breath as her killing intent began to rise higher and higher, to the point where she was just barely restrained. _He was working for father.. the whole time! That's how he must have known about Sasuke, how he must have known about me!_ She wanted to kill him, yet she still held herself back. "If you fight against me, you _will_ die. Withdraw!"

"It's the same.. You're just like him!" Dosu breathed, his visible eye wide before it narrowed, taking on a menacing gleam as the older boy raised his metal-covered arm, seemingly coming to a decision of sorts. _A decision that he'll regret_. "You don't get to order me around, _neither_ of you! I'm going to fight you and I'm going to win!"

"Then I'm sorry." Kiyomiko sighed softly as she looked to Genma as he stood between the two, giving the man a nod to start the match despite the look of understanding flickering on his normally sarcastic and cynical features. Regardless, he met her nod with acceptance.

"BEGIN!"

As she'd been expecting, Dosu attacked first. He was agitated, reckless, looking to prove something, not thinking clearly and Kiyomiko saw it in his gaze, deciding to take advantage of it. She didn't move, meeting his gaze with an unwavering stare that she normally only reserved for unnerving opponents, her pale silver eyes devoid of all light and almost hollow, as if they were doll's eyes, her entire face bearing the same emotionless expression. They were the eyes of a killer, one who had seen death so many times that they were able to kill their own emotions and become less than human, something more like a weapon, something that existed _only_ to kill. For that fraction of a second, there was fear plain in Dosu's gaze as he thrust his metal-covered arm forward, just like he had when he'd attacked Kabuto, his fist zipping passed her head and narrowly missing her cheek. She didn't flinch. Instead, she reached up and grabbed the boy's arm, exactly as she had last time, her delicate hand gripping his metal arm so hard that Dosu was shocked when he couldn't pull away.

"Never attack head-on without knowing what someone's abilities are. Allow me to re-introduce myself. I am Amatsuki Kiyomiko, the _Ice Princess of Konoha_. Let me show you how I earned that moniker." Kiyomiko spoke quietly, calmly, except her voice was dangerous and remarkably familiar, that hint of amused arrogance beneath her voice growing more prominent with each passing second that Dosu was near her. He struggled, trying to pull away before he froze, a sharp gasp escaping him when he felt the cold. Before the eyes of Dosu, Genma, all of the spectators and the Hokage himself, thick layers of ice began to form over Kiyomiko's skin, hair and clothes, perfectly contouring to her body and encasing her in a perfectly clear gloss of crystalline armor. She was glittering in the light, as if she were some figurine made out of glass or diamond, yet the ice seemed to defy all logic as it moved with her, keeping her completely covered at all times. Indeed, she was the Ice Princess of Konoha and she looked as though she had been frozen alive. "Your sound has no effect on me, Dosu. The sound waves need to reach the body in order to effect it, correct? How do you propose to do that.. when your sound waves just bounce right off of me..?"

There it was. That silence, that thrill down her spine, the adrenaline screaming through her system, the fire burning in her veins, the look of pure terror on Dosu's face.. She could almost get drunk off of it all. The corners of Kiyomiko's lips curled upwards into an all-too-familiar smile as ice began to leave her hand, crawling across Dosu's skin while he stood frozen in fear, the ice quickly making it's way to the metal covering his arm, promptly plugging up the holes that she assumed were the basis of his whole fighting style. Before anyone knew what was going on, least of all Dosu, Kiyomiko released him and shoved him back, her ice-covered hands forming seals faster than any mere Genin could have, jumping backwards until she was once again standing within the center of the arena. The shock of being shoved aside like a ragdoll seemed to have woken Dosu from his fear-induced stupor and he was looking down at his ice-covered arm with a look of pure rage, trying to chip the ice away with a kunai but it had absolutely no effect. During the preliminaries, she'd told Iruka that her ice would take thirty-six hours to melt on it's own. Now, however, after three weeks of solid training and adapting to Yuki's chakra, it would take close to a week.

"Suiton: Mittsu Ryufujin!" Kiyomiko's voice echoed through the stone-walled Arena as she came to a stop in the center, her delicate fingers still raised and forming the final seal, a seal that many in Konoha had never seen before. Silence reigned for twenty agonizing seconds before the ground beneath her feet began to vibrate, pebbles and small stones seemingly moving on their own. Genma seemed to get the idea that something big was coming and he moved to the safety of a tree just as the low rumble grew to a roar like a herd of rampaging bulls before everything seemed to fade back into silence. She could see Neji in the contestants' box, clinging to the concrete railing, his Byakugan activated and his white eyes wide. He knew what was happening and Kiyomiko's smirk widened as she laughed. "Dosu! Allow me to introduce the three Heartless Dragon Brides! The sisters Shikiyoku, Netami and Yofun!"

Three tiny cracks appeared in the dirt when each name was called out, small at first, a few feet around Kiyomiko, two on either side of her while the third was behind her. A split second of perfect silence passed before there were three massive explosions in quick succession, water bursting forth from beneath the earth's surface and coiling up into three towering tendrils of glittering water, each of them reaching up to twenty feet tall, easily dwarfing their small wielder, each of them representing lust, envy and wrath. The tops of the towering columns of water took on the vague shape of dragon heads, glaring down at Dosu with eyes glowing pale blue from Kiyomiko's chakra. Light was reflecting off of something within the water, shimmering like pure white scales and it only took a few seconds for Dosu to realize what was inside the water. Sharp and jagged blades of ice the size of arrowheads, razor sharp and shaped like fangs. Kiyomiko had finally completed the justu that she had created four years ago and it was terrifying. She just hoped that Dosu wouldn't recognize it's greatest flaw. She couldn't move.

If she used that technique directly on him, he would be a sitting duck, and under any other circumstances, she would have. However, she was before the eyes of the Hokage and the Five Nations. She would not make a mess of the older boy. Kiyomiko's delicate hands began to glow pale blue with her chakra as she used them to guide the towering columns of water, the frigid and glittering tendrils following the movements of her hands, down to the slightest twitch of her fingers as if they were puppets on strings, as they coiled around each other, dragon-shaped maws opening wide as if they were roaring and not the water itself. Kiyomiko guided her water pets strategically around the Arena, gradually loosening her control over their shape as water and ice crystals rained down upon the soil. She had to admit, it had been a flashy move, one that she normally wouldn't have done, but she needed to make a _lasting_ impression now that she was officially outed as an Amatsuki. Once she was satisfied, Kiyomiko sent the three coiling dragon sisters straight for Dosu, who'd been standing still like a moron the whole time, and the frigid water mingling and melding together to form one massive column that curled itself around the older boy before it began to change shape once again. A prison, similar to the water orb that Zabuza had trapped Kakashi in, except Kiyomiko's was completely hollow and almost transparent like a ball of blown glass, jagged spikes of crystalline ice forming a stable base beneath it to keep the orb from rolling away.

As soon as Dosu was successfully trapped, Kiyomiko let her jutsu drop, the pale blue glow of chakra evaporating from her hands as any remaining water scattered across the Arena, her ice armor gradually absorbing back into her skin, leaving her completely dry as if it had never been there to begin with. Kiyomiko had not only disarmed and captured Dosu in a matter of a few minutes but she had also claimed the entire battlefield, the soil covered with frigid water and frozen spikes of ice like caltrops, glittering in the light like diamonds. Her elemental affinities dominated the field. It was over. Silence reigned as Kiyomiko calmly walked through the jagged shards of ice, her geta allowing her to cross them with no trouble, before she came to a stop in front of the orb of clear ice, Dosu trapped inside, wide-eyed as he frantically tried to free himself, pounding on the ice with his fists and attempting to chip away at it with kunai. The boy seemed terrified, as if he could sense his impending demise, but Kiyomiko was not like her father, no matter how much she resembled him.

"Proctor-san, I believe the match is over." Kiyomiko turned to look at Genma as he dropped out of the tree, landing in the four-foot round patch of earth left uncovered by the ice caltrops, a small smile on her face as she quickly regained control over her own emotions, forcing herself to settle down. "My ice is different from normal ice. It would take a week to melt on it's own and fire has little effect. He won't be escaping it until I perform the release jutsu."

"Hn. Alright, then." Genma nodded in understanding before he turned to address the crowd, his voice raising so all of the spectators and the contestants could hear him. "Kinuta Dosu is unable to continue the match! Amatsuki Kiyomiko is the winner!"

There was a shocked silence for a few seconds before a roaring wave of cheers and applause rocked through the stadium and Kiyomiko politely smiled and waved a few times, Dosu standing stock still within the ice orb with a shocked look on the visible part of his bandage-covered face. Bringing her hands up into another unfamiliar seal, Kiyomiko performed the release jutsu that shattered her ice. The glittering caltrops were the first to go, all of them shattering in a vast series of tiny explosions, pieces of ice scattering harmlessly into the soil and melting away until nothing remained and the ice orb that contained Dosu soon followed suit, crackling and shattering like glass as it harmlessly broke apart. As the older boy stepped down from the small platform of disintegrating ice, Kiyomiko turned and startled walking back towards the contestants' box where all of her shocked friends were waiting, a polite smile on her face as her geta quietly clicked with each footstep.

"Y-you!... You made a _fool_ out of me! I'll show you! I'll show you _and_ your father!" Dosu's growling voice, filled with indignant rage and hatred, reached her ears and all of a sudden, a handful of kunai whizzed towards her and Kiyomiko paused for a second, recognizing the scent of burning parchment. Explosive tags! What happened next was a reflex.

Kiyomiko's proverbial mask slipped off completely and her true killing intent was released. In less than the blink of an eye, faster than any Genin could have, Kiyomiko dodged the kunai and her body disappeared before she reappeared directly in front of Dosu, her pale silver eyes gleaming like polished blades as one hand caught his metal-covered arm in a tight grip, the arm still coated with her ice. Dosu stood totally paralyzed as he envisioned scenes of death, his own death, at the behest of her true killing intent. In that moment, just as the paper bombs exploded and she was hidden from the view of the spectators, Kiyomiko did exactly as she had promised when she first met the boy, back when he'd attacked Kabuto in the waiting room before the First Exam exactly one month ago. _She took his arm_. She didn't even blink or bat an eyelash as her ice contracted around the older boy's metal-covered arm, much like Gaara's sand had done to Lee, metal creaking and bones popping as they splintered and fragmented, the shock of sudden pain so great that Dosu didn't even have time to scream before it was already over and the smoke from the exploding tags began to clear.

Kiyomiko turned and walked away, her face a perfectly expressionless crystalline mask as Genma appeared beside Dosu, the older boy laying on the ground and clutching the crushed remains of his arm, no traces of any ice left. A team of medical-nin rushed passed her as Kiyomiko reached the concrete stairs and ascended them, she swept passed her confused and startled friends, slipping down a quiet corridor where the vending machines were, the buzz and hum of electricity drowning out the dreadful silence within her own mind. Her heartrate was steady, her breathing normal, her hands perfectly still.. She felt nothing, even as she had destroyed that boy's arm in such a vicious way and she could almost hear her father's proud and arrogant chuckling in the back of her mind. She'd allowed her monster to peek out from behind the masks. It was all wrong.

* * *

Omg, this chapter too _forever_ to get right! And my chapters are still getting longer! Agh!

Anyway, here are some notes.

Before anyone comments that Kiyomiko is too overpowered because of her little encounter with Jiraiya, keep in mind that Jiraiya wanted to _capture_ her, not realizing that it was Kiyo because of her transformation and he thought she was a spy. I'm not sure I made it obvious enough in the actual story but he was holding back _considerably_ because he didn't want to kill her.

The song that Kiyomiko plays on the flute, if anyone's interested, is Ushiwaka's Appearance from the game Okami. I've found that I write better when I listen to the whole Okami soundtrack as opposed to the whole Naruto soundtrack. Iunno, that doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm just gunna go with it.

The "phantom dialogue" from the Konoha Cemetery is _actual_ lines from the manga. It was partly the reason why I was so slow on this chapter because it was such a pain in the butt to find!

Also, I figured that Suzume and Suzuki deserved another little appearance and what better way to show them than in a character development scene? :D Yes, Kiyo has a rather amusing affection for sweets, though she tries to hide it as much as she can.

Anyway, let me know what you think! I'm gunna go get started on the next chapter.

-Asia


	10. Stand Your Ground and A New Home

Kiyomiko had won the match against Dosu and she was now standing in the center of the arena with her arm held high by the announcer. There was a few seconds of silence before a roaring cheer echoed from the crowds. It was so loud that it hurt Kiyomiko's ears and she sighed, taking her hand away from the announcer and turning back towards the contestants' box without saying a word. She had beaten Dosu, so why wasn't this feeling of unease going away? If anything, it was getting stronger.

"Kiyo-chan!" Naruto's cheering voice came from ahead of her as Kiyomiko reached the top of the stairs, walking into the stone room where her friends waited. Looking up, Kiyomiko saw Naruto running towards her with a smile so bright, he could blind the sun. "You won! You won!"

"What? You thought I was going to lose?" Kiyomiko smirked, reaching up and ruffling Naruto's messy blonde hair as soon as he was within arm's-reach. "And you don't have any time to sit around and congratulate me. You're up next, remember?"

"Of course, I remember!" Naruto suddenly looked pumped, his eyes showing his determination before a flicker of curiousity crossed his childlike features. "Anyway, how come you got all shiny when that guy hit you? Why weren't you knocked out like Chouji?"

"It's a secret." Kiyomiko sighed and turned Naruto towards the stairs, giving him an encouraging smile. "Now go win, alright?"

"No way am I gunna lose!" Naruto cheered, jogging down the stairs and out of sight. Kiyomiko shook her head and chuckled as the next match was announced. Naruto was always so full of energy.

Collecting her pack from the stone bench where she had left it, Kiyomiko swung it over her shoulder and left the contestants' box, heading down a wide corridor to the vending machines. It was a little quieter here, away from the sounds of battle and the roaring crowd. Little white flourescent lights lit the hallway, dotting the ceiling every five feet or so and the hum of electricity seemed somewhat calming. That feeling of unease was growing stronger by the minute and Kiyomiko had just needed to get away from all the noise to relax..

Slipping a few coins into one of the tall machines, Kiyomiko recieved her drink and bent down to collect it, her back turned to the corridor behind her. She could sense someone coming closer, someone had followed her from the contestants' box, but who? All of a sudden, a torrent of sand washed over her and Kiyomiko's ice armor returned, covering her body completely as she stood her ground, sticking to the tile floor with her chakra so she wouldn't get washed away. Turning slowly, Kiyomiko peered between the coils of sand to see Gaara standing in front of her, looking as dispassionate as ever.

"Gaara! Knock it off!" Kiyomiko shouted and suddenly the torrent of sand disappeared. Looking around her, the vending machines had been completely destroyed, the walls and tile floors in a state of disarray as if they had been quickly worn away. Looking up at Gaara, Kiyomiko frowned. "What was that for?"

"You are protected as well.." Gaara's voice was quiet, as if he didn't believe it himself. But there she was, Kiyomiko, completely covered in ice from head to toe as if she were made out of glass, glittering in the flickering flourescent lights. "My sand didn't hurt you.."

"If you had wanted to test that theory, you could have _asked_ before you sandblasted the hallway!" Kiyomiko sighed, her ice armor receeding back into her skin as she pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "And what would you have done if I couldn't protect myself? What if you had killed me?"

"You didn't die." Gaara interjected and Kiyomiko froze, looking up at him as her mind became crystal clear. Gaara hadn't seemed to understand just how deeply he had wounded her with those words, his expression completely blank as he stared right back at her.

"Do I really mean so little to you?" Kiyomiko asked, her pupil-less silver eyes wide as that familiar ache returned. Gaara stood there, silent, staring at Kiyomiko as if he hadn't done anything wrong. "You think you're the only one, don't you? The only one with something sealed up inside you?"

That got his attention.

"That's the only reason I survived! If it hadn't been for the spirit inside me, I would have died when you attacked me!" Kiyomiko scolded, tearing burning her eyes as a flicker of realization flashed across his features, his eyes widening. He was finally starting to understand. "I thought we were a lot alike, Gaara.. But I was wrong. I would never have attacked a friend like that, just to test a theory."

Without saying another word, Kiyomiko vanished in a whirlwind of ice and snow, leaving Gaara in the empty corridor before he saw her tears. When she reappeared, Kiyomiko was in a hallway, high above the arena near the stands. She had finished her battle, so no one would question her if she left the contestants' box. She had followed the scent of a friend and it had led her here. Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, Kiyomiko settled herself and walked into the stands.

"Shikamaru.." Kiyomiko mumbled, walking up behind him and resting her forehead against his back. It was taking all that she had not to tear up anymore. She had known that Gaara had a tailed beast inside of him, just like Naruto. She had known since she arrived in Suna and heard the rumors a year ago. She understood how alone he must have been, how isolated, but that still didn't excuse what he did. He could have killed her, and he didn't seem to care at all.

"Kiyo-chan?" Shikamaru asked, startled by her sudden appearance. He looked messy, as if he'd had a difficult time with his battle against Temari but he didn't push her away, instead, he looked at her over his shoulder. "What's the matter?"

"Just.. let me stay here for a second, okay?" Kiyomiko whispered, closing her eyes and hiding behind Shikamaru as if she were a shy little kid. "I don't want anyone to see me right now."

From the scents in the air, Kiyomiko knew that a few other people she knew were here as well. Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Asuma and Kurenai, even Guy was somewhere nearby, but all she cared about was Shikamaru's scent. It relaxed her. He smelled like grass and polished wood, reminding her of the forest. It was a little odd, she had to admit, but Shikamaru didn't push her away. He stood still and let her be, turning to look back down into the arena as the crowd began to get restless, waiting for Sasuke's battle.

"Kiyo-chan.. Are you crying?" Shikamaru asked quietly, so only she would here. Kiyomiko sighed softly and nodded a little against his back before she took a step back and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She must have gotten the back of his shirt wet. After she had calmed herself down, Shikamaru turned and looked at her with a solemn expression. She could tell he was curious, but he didn't ask her why she had been crying. Instead, he held up a half-empty juice box as she smoothed her messy bangs around her red-rimmed eyes. "Here, you should drink this. You'll feel better."

"Hn." Kiyomiko nodded and took the drink, taking a small sip from the straw. She didn't understand how a little thing like a lukewarm juicebox would make her feel better, but somehow it did, relaxing her enough that she didn't feel like she wanted to run away anymore. "Thanks.."

"So where do you suppose Sasuke is? Wasn't he supposed to be here when the rest of us arrived?" Shikamaru asked, turning to look back down into the arena as he tried to make conversation, probably to take Kiyomiko's mind off of whatever was bothering her. He had never seen her cry before, but he was handling it remarkably well. "You don't think he decided to drop out, do you?"

"Not a chance." Kiyomiko chuckled and shook her head, picturing Sasuke's big, dumb, indignant face when Sakura had suggested it. Mr. High-And-Mighty wouldn't drop out that easily. Just as she thought those words, two familiar scents reached her nose and she looked up suddenly, her eyes locked on the center of the arena. "They're here."

"Eh?" Shikamaru turned and looked just in time to see Kakashi and Sasuke appear in the arena just as the announcer was about to disqualify him. Kiyomiko's eyes darkened slightly as she looked away, turning away from the arena as the next match was announced. "Phew! Talk about timing!"

"Hn." Kiyomiko nodded absent-mindedly as she took another sip from Shikamaru's juicebox. She hadn't seen Kakashi in a full month, ever since he had taken Sasuke somewhere to train without telling her he was leaving. He had told Naruto and Sakura, but he had never said a word to Kiyomiko. Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the plain stone wall in front of her. Was it because he knew who she was? Who her father was? Was that it? Did he think that he couldn't trust her because she might betray him and tell her father where Sasuke had gone? Kiyomiko felt another sharp ache in her heart and she sighed, steeling her nerves. She couldn't trust someone who didn't trust her, especially when he had already betrayed her by leaving her when she needed him most.

"Oh, there you are!" The scent of summer rain and the sweet snap of electricity approached Kiyomiko and she turned to look up at Kakashi as he stood beside her. "I was looking for you in the contestants' box but no one had seen you in quite a while. I heard your match was up first! How'd it go?"

"Liar." Kiyomiko whispered as a sudden chill formed in the air around her. Kiyomiko could see her breath and Shikamaru turned, startled by the hollow tone of her voice as Kakashi looked down at her, worried and confused.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura looked up, her green eyes wide as Kiyomiko used the distraction to sneak away, disappearing into the stairwell when Kakashi and Shikamaru turned to look. She hadn't meant to startle Shikamaru, especially when he had been so nice to her but she needed to get away.

Slowly descending the stairs, Kiyomiko's fingers brushed against the metal railing, leaving trails of frost in their wake. She had to get somewhere quiet where she could be alone for a while. This feeling of unease was growing within her as she listened to all of her senses, waiting for some sign that she wasn't losing her mind. Step by step, she walked down the stairs and left the stadium, pushing open a pair of double doors and stepping outside into the mid-afternoon sunlight. From inside the arena, she could hear Sasuke's battle with Gaara and a breathless silence from the crowd, as if they were waiting, not knowing who would win the fight.

"_Kiyomiko, you need to settle down."_ Yuki's voice whispered in her mind and Kiyomiko's eyes lost focus. "_At this rate, you'll use up all of the chakra I've given you. Look at your feet."_

_"Eh?_" Kiyomiko blinked and looked down at her feet, her eyes widening slightly when she saw that they were completely coated with ice, the grass around her frozen solid with each step she had taken away from the stadium. "_I'm sorry.. I didn't even notice.."_

Kiyomiko picked a random tree and jumped up into it, sitting down crosslegged on one of the branches as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused her senses on the things she enjoyed and gradually the chill began to disappear, her cold body thawing and returning to it's normal temperature. The summer breeze and the sunlight warmed her, the rustling leaves whispered to her, she could hear birds chirping nearby, the scents of the trees, grass and flowers calmed her.

Then all of a sudden, the scent of blood reached her nose and Kiyomiko's eyes opened wide, looking ahead of her at the high stadium walls. Gaara was hurt! Sasuke had broken through his ultimate defense! A loud, roaring scream echoed through the stadium and there was a loud crash like a wall being broken. Jumping up and climbing higher and higher into the tree, Kiyomiko watched as Gaara ran away from the stadium, his appearance almost beast-like as Sasuke chased after him. Kiyomiko's eyes widened and she took a step forward to follow when something inside of her snapped and she whirled around, just in time to a giant square barrier form on the roof of the stadium, above where the Hokage had been sitting. Another scent reached her nose and Kiyomiko's hands started to tremble. Her father.. was here..

She had to do something! Kiyomiko ran as fast as she could, jumping over rooftops, crashing through trees and scaling walls as she ran. She had to do _something_! She had known that something was coming, but she had no idea that her father would do _this_! From her vantage point, Kiyomiko could see that Konoha was being attacked by Sound and Sand shinobi. Konoha was scrambling to protect itself and Kiyomiko was in the middle of it, her eyes wide as she watched her home being destroyed.

"_Kiyomiko! They're massing to the East!_" Yuki's voice shouted in her mind, startling her from her daze. "_Get over there before they destroy the wall!_"

"_Right!_" Kiyomiko steeled herself and took off towards the eastern wall. It was the same direction she had seen Gaara and Sasuke run off to, but they were long gone by now. She didn't have time to worry about them, she had to protect the village from her father! She wouldn't let him kill anyone else!

Ahead of her, she could see a line of Konoha shinobi battling against the Sound invaders. They were losing. Picking up the pace, Kiyomiko ran faster and launched herself into the fray before anyone knew what had hit them. Landing on her hands and feet like some kind of animal, a few of the Sound shinobi paused to look at her, startled as a thin mist rose from her body, watching as she slowly stood.

"Get out of here." Kiyomiko growled to the Konoha chunins behind her, her voice filled with a terrible venom as she activated her sharingan, glaring at the enemies before her. "The Main Gate is about to be over-run!"

"You can't be serious! You can't take them all on-!"

"GO!" Kiyomiko barked over her shoulder and the chunin flinched, his eyes widening when he saw her face. Quickly, he gathered up the rest of his team and they fled in the direction of the main gate, leaving Kiyomiko alone. The Sound ninja looked surprised and startled, their eyes wide when they saw her sharingan. Kiyomiko didn't have time to play around. She would protect the village. She would protect her friends and their families!

Drawing her fan, the world seemed to slow as Kiyomiko instantly memorized her surroundings with her sharingan, opening her fan with a gentle click as she raised her arms wide. More and more Sound shinobi entered the village as they jumped from the high wall in front of her, not knowing what they had just done. Slowly, Kiyomiko exhaled as ice crawled across her skin, covering her body. And then she began her battle dance, lunging straight into the attack.

Every emotion she had ever felt, every terrible memory, every nightmare that had ever haunted her rose to the surface as Kiyomiko attacked, over and over again, dodging physical blows as her ice repelled all sound-related attacks, sending them back to the Sound shinobi. She kept herself low most of the time, grateful for her short stature, only jumping to avoid attacks as she dealt her own, slashing at the men that surrounded her. Blood coated the blades of her fan and Kiyomiko's clothes as she just kept attacking, sending waves of ice at the men that ran back to the wall, letting none escape.

The sound of a wall crumbling drew her from her battle as she looked up to see a giant three-headed serpent, one of her father's summons, smashing it's way through the wall and into the village. Kiyomiko acted fast, using Yuki's chakra to send a massive wave of ice into the Sound shinobi she'd been battling, freezing them chest-deep in solid ice so they couldn't run. Jumping onto the rooftops, Kiyomiko's ice armor around her hands disappeared just long enough for her to bite into her thumbs as she ran, forming a few quick seals as she dropped onto the main road and slammed her bloody hands down in the dirt.

"Kuchiyose no Justu!"

A cloud of smoke surrounded Kiyomiko as she felt the ground beneath her rise up, lifting her into the sky. Dropping down onto her knees, Kiyomiko threaded her fingers into a thick coat of white fur, holding on tight so she wouldn't fall off. When the smoke cleared, the villagers and invaders paused, looking up at the giant white five-tailed fox that stood crouched, baring it's fangs at the three-headed serpent as a young girl rode on the back of it's neck.

"Mamoru! It's time to get rid of some unwanted pests!" Kiyomiko shouted, her sharingan locked on the three-headed snake in front of her. The white fox almost seemed to smile, his yellow eyes vicious as he acknowledged the girl's commands. "Try not to step on anyone this time! This village is my home!"

"You got it, Ne-chan!" Mamoru snarled as he lunged into the attack with Kiyomiko watching the battle from his back, using her sharingan and warning him if she saw any attempts to harm him. Kiyomiko's heart pounded in her ears as she used every method she could think of to take the serpent down.

"Kiyomiko!" A familiar voice and a forest scent reached Kiyomiko and she glanced to one side, seeing Shikamaru's father Shikaku, running along the broken wall. He had been in the room when the Hokage had learned that Kiyomiko's father was Orochimaru. Standing behind him was Chouji's father and Ino's father, both looked stunned when they saw her.

"Get on!" Kiyomiko shouted to them and the three jonins quickly jumped onto Mamoru's back before the fox lunged again, clamoring to reach Kiyomiko as she clung to the fox's neck. "Mamoru! Dodge left!"

Mamoru did as he was told and jumped to the left just as the serpent's tail crashed down where they had just been, leaving a long crater in the earth. Shikaku finally managed to reach Kiyomiko and he mimicked her position, holding on to the fur beneath him as he looked at the girl. Kiyomiko ignored his expression as she kept directing Mamoru's battle, shouting commands every few minutes.

"Kiyomiko, you can't be here on the front lines!" Shikaku scolded, sounding remarkably calm and fatherly, given the situation.

"We don't exactly have time to debate that issue right now! Taking down this snake is my main priority!" Kiyomiko snapped as Mamoru narrowly dodged another attack. The serpent was just too fast to land any serious attacks, it kept moving!

"If we can slow it down, would you be able to deal the finishing blow?" Chouji's father asked, his expression serious.

"You can't be serious! She's a child!" Ino's father looked absolutely horrified that his teammates were even considering letting Kiyomiko stay.

"She's the child that single-handedly halted the Sound invasion through the Eastern wall, sending the chunin team to the main gate when it was about to be over-run!" Shikaku responded, mild annoyance in his voice. "And she's currently fighting on the level with a giant snake, probably running out of chakra and in need of our help!"

Kiyomiko glanced over at Shikaku for a moment, surprise flickering in her blood-red eyes as he defended her. He looked back at her and gave her a reassuring nod before he, Chouji's father and Ino's father jumped from Mamoru's back and onto a nearby rooftop. They were going to help her? Even knowing who and what she was? Kiyomiko sighed and pushed the thoughts from her mind, focusing on the battle ahead as she stood up on Mamoru's back and drew her fan.

"Mamoru! Jump back so you don't get caught!" Kiyomiko commanded and the giant five-tailed fox obeyed, jumping backwards on the main road. Pooling her chakra into her fan, Kiyomiko formed a few seals and prepared to unleash one of her strongest wind techniques. It wouldn't do much damage, she knew, but it might be enough to confuse it for a few seconds. "Futon: Atsugai!"

Pointing her open fan at the three-headed serpent, a whirling vortex of icy wind began to form, becoming smaller and smaller as the air moved faster and faster. Kiyomiko began feeding her chakra into the tiny windstorm and it began to glitter and shimmer with the tiny flakes of ice and snow within it. When it was ready, Kiyomiko let it go and the windstorm launched itself at the three-headed snake, exploding into a mini-typhoon of ice needles and wind blades, dazing the great snake.

Kiyomiko watched as Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi surrounded the disoriented serpent, each of them forming seals at the same time. Shikaku used a shadow bind technique around one of the serpents' heads, Choza's whole body grew and grew in size until he was large enough to grab another head and pin it down, and Inoichi used a technique that seemed to turn the third head against the first, causing it to bite at the head that Shikaku was restraining. She didn't have much time.

"Let's end this, Mamoru!" Kiyomiko shouted, using the absolute last of her chakra to form a combination move with the giant white fox, forming the proper seals for both of them as Mamoru prepared, drawing in a deep breath. The temperature around them dropped as ice began to form on the ground, a thin white mist coiling around Kiyomiko. "Hyoton: Hissatsu Hyoso!"

A huge ball of water flew from Mamoru's muzzle and Kiyomiko used her fan to freeze it, turning it into a giant spear-like icicle and using her chakra to guide it to the softest part of the three-headed serpent she could think of. In between the heads. The three jonins' grips on the serpent was waning, but Kiyomiko's attack made it just in time, striking and piercing the giant snake in between the second and third head, skewering it clean through. Slowly, the snakes' heads lowered as it died and when it had stopped moving completely, Kiyomiko collapsed onto Mamoru's back. They had done it. The sounds of battle had ceased and the invasion had been halted. Kiyomiko could hear cheering around her and she sighed.

"Mamoru.. Thank you." Kiyomiko gently stroked her friend's fur and closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to rest. After weeks of feeling uneasy, training herself every day until she collapsed, the feeling was finally starting to fade away. She had helped to protect the village.

"Oie! Human!" Mamoru's booming voice seemed faint for some reason as Kiyomiko listened to her slow heartbeat. Why did he sound so afraid? "Get over here! Something's wrong with Ne-chan!"

"My god, she's freezing cold!" Kiyomiko opened her eyes and looked up, seeing Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi looking back down at her with worried expressions, Inoichi's eyes widening as Kiyomiko looked up at him. "Sharingan?"

"Inoichi." Shikaku spoke up, his tone hard as Kiyomiko felt herself being lifted, the scent of a forest enveloping her. "There's no time to talk about that now. We need to get her to the hospital. Her lips are starting to turn blue. She's slowly freezing to death."

Inoichi frowned slightly and quieted down as the three jonins ran towards the hospital, Kiyomiko being carried in Shikaku's arms. Normally, she would be upset, wouldn't she? Kiyomiko couldn't think very clearly.. She was so sleepy and she felt like she was floating.

"We need a nurse here!" Shikaku shouted and Kiyomiko opened her eyes a little, seeing that they weren't outside anymore. She was in the hospital waiting room, being laid down on a stretcher with dozens of injured villagers around her. Remarkably, most of their wounds were superficial.

"Kiyo-chan!" Kiyomiko heard a chorus of voices and she glanced towards them, her eyes half-open as she saw Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sitting in the hallway as she passed, looking pretty roughed up. For a split second, Kiyomiko's eyes locked with Sasuke's and for some reason, his eyes widened and he went pale. Something inside Kiyomiko told her to close her eyes, so she did, faintly hearing the sounds of hurried footsteps following after her.

The last thing Kiyomiko could remember was deactivating her sharingan before she passed out, letting a strange warmth take over as the world faded around her. She had done a good thing today. She had protected the people she had come to love. Now it was time to rest.

-(o.O)-

Kiyomiko's memory of the following two days was fractured, split up by falling in and out of consciousness as the doctors tended to her. Every so often, she would recognize a scent or she would open her eyes long enough to see a blurry face or two, but then she would slip back into the darkness soon after, unable to gain control as a spinning sensation ruled her mind and body. Once everything seemed to finally still, Kiyomiko's entire body ached and it hurt to breathe, her fingers felt stiff and numb and it felt as if someone were dancing on her head.

"Ow..." Kiyomiko whined, wincing as she forced her body to move, bringing a hand up to her forehead without opening her eyes.

"Don't try to move around." A familiar voice spoke from somewhere nearby and Kiyomiko flinched, startled as she hadn't noticed anyone else in the room. "You're still recovering, though the doctors are admittedly baffled by how quickly you've healed in such a short time."

"Jiraiya.." Kiyomiko sighed, slowly turning her head as she forced her eyes to open. He was sitting in a chair beside her bed with his arms folded over his chest. His features were darker than she had remembered, judging by the bags under his eyes, he hadn't slept in a while. But there was something else.. "What's wrong..?"

"You probably already know this, but Orochimaru was behind the attack on Konoha two days ago." Jiraiya sighed, sitting forward as he continued. "He tried to kill the Hokage, but he was critically wounded when the Hokage sacrificed himself.. The Hokage is dead.. His funeral was held yesterday."

"So.." Kiyomiko began, her voice hoarse as her eyes began to burn. Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly when he saw tears suddenly roll down Kiyomiko's cheeks. "I wasn't able to protect everyone after all.. I'm not strong enough to stop my father.."

"Is that what you've been trying to do?" Jiraiya asked, his expression pained as Kiyomiko clumsily wiped away her tears. "All these years, you've been trying to get stronger to defeat him?"

"Hn.." Kiyomiko nodded, taking a deep breath before she forced herself into a sitting position, wincing as her stiff muscles screamed in protest. Now that she was sitting up, Kiyomiko looked down at her arms and legs, bandages tightly wrapped around her limbs. With a sigh of slight annoyance, Kiyomiko began unwrapping herself. "These are really unnecessary.. Why didn't you stop them from wasting bandages on me?"

"Because at the time, you had serious wounds-" Jiraiya's eyes widened as the bandages fell away from Kiyomiko's limbs, revealing perfectly smooth, healthy skin as if nothing had been wrong with her in the first place. "How..?"

"I heal fast. Now help me up before anyone comes in here." Kiyomiko grumbled as she tossed the thin blankets aside and held out her hand expectantly. "If I don't start moving around now, it'll just get harder later and I'll be stuck in here for weeks."

Jiraiya took the girl's hand and carefully helped her to sit at the edge of the bed, waiting as Kiyomiko pulled off all kinds of wires and sensors, carefully removing the IV from her arm before she forced herself to stand up. She wavered at first, her legs wobbly and stiff like a foal but after a few minutes, she was able to stand on her own. Her eyes determined, Kiyomiko carefully crossed the room to the cabinet and opened the doors, apparently looking for her clothing but there was nothing inside.

"Ah.. The doctors had to remove your clothing in order to treat you and since they were covered in blood, they threw them out.." Jiraiya began, watching as Kiyomiko turned, pale and wide-eyed before he continued, pulling a fan from his sleeve and holding it out to her. "This was the only thing they saved. They gave it to me for safe-keeping."

"Thanks." Kiyomiko said quickly as she grabbed her fan from Jiraiya's hands and held it close for a moment, her eyes scanning the room for something. "What exactly am I supposed to wear, then? I'm not going to keep wearing this hospital gown.."

"Uh.. well.." Jiraiya suddenly seemed nervous, as if he had bad news.."Sakura and Naruto went to your apartment to pick up some clothes.. But the whole building.. had been destroyed in the attack.."

"...You're kidding, right?" Kiyomiko deadpanned, looking at Jiraiya as if he were joking and she hadn't quite understood the punchline.

"I'm afraid not.." Jiraiya answered, pointing to a large bag sitting at the foot of the bed. "They collected everything they could find that wasn't broken or destroyed."

"That's all they could find?" Kiyomiko sighed, walking over to the bag and opening it. Inside, she found the white yukata she slept in, the black canvas pack she kept a modest collection of weapons in, a wooden puzzle box that she kept all her money in, her forehead protector, a pair of light grey ankle-high sandals and light grey fingerless gloves. With a sigh, Kiyomiko sat down and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "This is enough that I can go out and get some clothes on my own."

"Wait, you can't leave the hospital yet.. You're not fully recovered!" Jiraiya protested but Kiyomiko ignored him, gathering up her yukata, forehead protector and her sandals, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door in his face before he could follow her in. A few minutes later, Kiyomiko opened the door and walked out wearing the long white yukata and using her forehead protector as a sash to keep it closed, her long black hair loose down her shoulders as she smoothed her messy bangs around her face. "Whoa!.. You.."

"I know. I look just like him." Kiyomiko sighed, tossing her hospital gown on the bed as she threw the rest of her belongings into the big white bag at the foot of the bed, slipping her fan into her sleeve. Turning to face Jiraiya, she looked up at him with a serious expression. "Look, I'm _not_ staying in this hospital anymore. I'm going to check out and go buy some new clothes. If you're that worried about my wellbeing, come with me and carry my bags."

Without another word, Kiyomiko shoved the large white bag into Jiraiya's arms and left the room. Jiraiya hurried after her as Kiyomiko moved through the corridors, heading directly towards the nearest nurses' station without stopping. By the time they got there, Kiyomiko's movements weren't as awkward and she quickly signed the release forms, ignoring Jiraiya's continuing protests.

-(o.O)-

A few minutes later, Kiyomiko stood at the far end of market row with her hands on her hips and a coinpurse in her hand. Jiraiya had since given up trying to make her go back to the hospital and now he was just keeping a watchful eye over her as the odd pair walked from shop to shop. The town seemed to be cleaning up and repairing the damage from the attack but the market seemed oddly quiet, only a few people had their shops open. Despite this, Kiyomiko quickly finished her shopping in record time, surprising Jiraiya by just how remarkably un-feminine she was when it came to shopping, even going so far as to haggle with shop-owner after shop-owner to get her purchases at half-price.

Standing at the other end of the market row, Kiyomiko stuffed her white yukata into a shopping bag. Now, she was wearing full-body fishnet, a pair of baggy, faded purple pinstripe shorts, a beige top with cropped sleeves and a high collar like Sasuke's, a pair of matching wood-brown ankle-high sandals and fingerless gloves and lastly a darker purple sash around her waist. On a whim, Kiyomiko had bought a beige mask from the vendor that Kakashi usually bought his from and she tugged it over her head, covering the lower half of her face as she pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail before tying her forehead protector around her upper arm. Looking down at herself, Kiyomiko had to admit that this was probably the most color she had worn in a long time, noting that her usual attire consisted of various shades of black and grey.

"Well, now that you've finished your shopping, would you mind answering me one question?" Jiraiya finally spoke up as Kiyomiko counted the remainder of her funds, sitting down on a bench in a nearby teahouse. "Where are you planning on staying now? I mean, you're apartment is gone.."

"There's a hotel not far from here. I can rent out a room for a few weeks, until I start running missions again, whenever that is." Kiyomiko responded, slipping her coinpurse back into her black canvas pack. "I can always start doing odd jobs again, if I get short on cash."

"How about you come with me on a little errand for the village?" Jiraiya proposed, leaning a bit closer as he lowered his voice. "I offered to go find someone for the elders and in all honesty, she scares me."

"Uh huh..." Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at the older man. "In other words, the village elders want you to be the next Hokage and you're passing the responsibility to someone else."

"Eh.." Jiraiya sighed in defeat, his head falling forward a bit. "How about if I pay you for the trouble, hm? It'll be like a mission."

"Fair enough." Kiyomiko answered, collecting her bags and standing up, turning back to look at the somewhat forlorn man. "When do we leave?"

"How about we leave in an hour? I have a few things to do first and I'm sure you'd like to get a few things for the trip, so we could meet at the front gate when you're ready." Jiraiya replied as he stood, looking down at Kiyomiko with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan." Kiyomiko swung her bags over her shoulder and started walking down the main road as she gave a half-hearted wave. "See you in an hour."

-(o.O)-

A few minutes later, Kiyomiko stood on the doorstep of the Nara family house in a quiet part of the village that was left virtually untouched by the recent attack. After knocking, Kiyomiko heard the sound of footsteps coming from inside and she quickly tugged down the beige mask that covered the lower half of her face, smoothing the thin fabric around her neck. When the door opened, an irritated looking middle-aged woman appeared, peering around the door. She had long brown hair, pulled back in a low ponytail with a few whispy strands escaping their bonds to brush against her face and dark eyes like Shikamaru.

"Hey, Mrs. Nara." Kiyomiko smiled as she raised her hand in a half-hearted wave. "Is Shikamaru around? I'd like to leave my stuff with him while I head out on a mission for a bit."

"I think he's here, but why would you need to leave your things here, Kiyo-chan?" Mrs. Nara, Yoshino, asked, a curious expression slightly smoothing the permanent scowl from her face.

"Oh, you haven't heard? I'm kinda homeless for a while." Kiyomiko laughed a little and rubbed the back of her head. Yoshino's eyes widened in surprise as Kiyomiko explained. "I lived in that apartment building on the main road through the village, the one that got knocked over by the giant snake.. Anyway, this is all I have left and it's only temporary until I get back from my mission. I'll probably have enough to rent a hotel room for a couple months when I get back."

"Oh, that's such nonsense!" Yoshino quickly snatched up Kiyomiko's bags and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the house in one grand motion. Startled, Kiyomiko was led through the house, down a series of corridors lined with shoji-screen walls, until Yoshino came to a stop outside of a room near the back of the house, pulling open one of the sliding doors. "You'll be staying here until you get back on your feet again."

Kiyomiko blinked, not sure if she had quite understood the woman as she looked into the room with wide eyes. It was a simple room, with a futon, a dresser, a low table, a work desk and a wooden chair with a built in closet off in a corner. The floor was made up of tatami mats and the back wall was plaster with a sliding double door made out of shoji screen that led out into the back yard, the forest visible beyond it. It was dusty and Kiyomiko saw spiderwebs in the corners, but it was dark and cool.. She loved it. But..

"Are you sure?" Kiyomiko asked, looking up at the older woman. "I don't want to impose on you and your husband.."

"My husband?" Yoshino's eyebrows shot up in an incredulous expression before her face cracked into something resembling a smile, a few chuckles escaping her lips as she shook her head. "That lazy bum probably won't even notice you're here and besides, I've always wanted a daughter. It'll be nice having another girl in the house, even if it is just temporary."

"Hey, mom.. I'm heading over to the hospital to see Kiyo-" Shikamaru lazily shuffled down the hallway, his eyes half-open until he almost bumped into Kiyomiko, doing a double-take as he took a few surprised steps back. "Kiyo-chan? What are you doing out of the hospital? And in my house?"

"Uhm... Eheheheh.." Kiyomiko chuckled nervously as she pointed to Shikamaru's mother, not quite sure what to say other than "Ask her.."

"Shikamaru.. Why is it that you failed to mention that one of your little friends was _homeless_?" Yoshino's tone was surprisingly pleasant and Kiyomiko looked up to see that the woman was actually smiling, but for some reason Shikamaru looked almost.. afraid. "Anyway! Kiyo-chan will be staying with us until she gets back up on her feet. I want you to clean out this room by the time she gets back from her mission. Er.. How long will you be gone again, dear?"

"A month or so at the most." Kiyomiko pondered for a moment before she answered calmly, not noticing the surprised looks on Shikamaru and Yoshino's faces. "I still have to do a little shopping before I leave.. in half an hour."

"Well, he'll certainly have enough time to clean out this room for you and I'll have some time to pick up some clothes for you when I visit the market next." Yoshino looked positively sparkling with enthusiasm as she walked into what was to become Kiyomiko's room and set her bags down on the desk near the closet.

"Oh, if you're going to be buying things for me while I'm gone, I should probably give you something.." Kiyomiko slipped her black canvas pack over her shoulder and dropped it on the floor at her feet, kneeling down as she reached into it. After a few seconds of rummaging through it, her fingers found the wooden puzzle box with her money in it. "Here it is.."

"What is that thing..?" Shikamaru knelt down beside Kiyomiko, looking at the wooden box with a curious expression. Yoshino briefly raised an eyebrow at her son acting so casually towards the girl she barely knew but then a knowing smile appeared on her face and she folded her arms across her chest, the cogs in her mind beginning to turn.

"It's a puzzle box." Kiyomiko answered with a smirk, quickly pressing a series of wooden tiles on the box's cover and the lid opened with a faint click. Opening the lid, Kiyomiko revealed her life's savings, neatly rolled bills, bound with leather cords, completely filling the entire box. Taking out one of the rolls of bills, she held it up to Yoshino with a smile. "That should be enough to cover clothes and new bedding, right?"

"Yeah, if you wanted to buy new clothes and bedding for everyone in the house." Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, neither of them noticing Yoshino's stunned silence. "Seriously, where did you get all that money? Did you rob someone or something?"

"No.. I've been saving it up for a couple years." Kiyomiko answered with a sigh, snapping the lid of the puzzle box closed and slipping it back into her bag. "Before I came here, I used to do odd jobs for any village I was in at the time. You already know I travelled around a lot, Shikamaru, and I didn't exactly have any relatives I could stay with.."

After finally convincing Yoshino to take the roll of money, Kiyomiko closed up her pack and swung it over her shoulder, politely saying her goodbyes as she set out towards the main gate of the village where she was supposed to meet up with Jiraiya. Shikamaru walked with her some of the way before they parted ways, Shikamaru taking a side-road that lead to the market where he had been tasked with buying cleaning supplies by his mother.

The sun was high overhead when Kiyomiko arrived at the main gate, the birds were chirping happily and the cicadas were buzzing in the mid-summer heat and she found a nice shady spot to lean against the giant green doors as she waited for Jiraiya to show up. After a few minutes, Kiyomiko looked up to see two familiar faces, looking right back at her.

"Oh hey, I know you guys.." Kiyomiko said with recognition as she walked up to the wooden guard shack that sat just inside the main gate. Kotetsu, the one on the left, had mid-length spiky black hair, dark eyes and a bandage across his face that covered his nose. Izumo, the one on the right, had straight shoulder-length brown hair and dark brown eyes. Both of them had been here in the guard shack when Kiyomiko first arrived in Konoha in the early spring.

"It's you again!" Kotetsu blinked dumbly as he pointed at Kiyomiko, Izumo sharing a similar expression.

"Yeah, it's me again." Kiyomiko chuckled, coming to a stop in front of them with a fox-like grin as she stretched her arms up and knit her fingers together behind her head. "It's hard to believe it's been six months already, huh?"

"You nearly got us into a huge amount of trouble that morning.." Izumo sighed lamentably. "Lucky for us, the Hokage is.. was so understanding."

"Yeah.." Kiyomiko responded quietly, an awkward silence stretching on for a few minutes as the two chunins seemed to mourn the loss of their leader. "Well, if it's any consolation, I wanted to thank you for letting me in that morning.. It's because you two let me in that I was able to start a life here."

That seemed to lighten the mood a little and Kiyomiko smiled thoughtfully at the two men. Just as Izumo looked like he was about to say something, a commotion down the street drew the attention of the two guards and Kiyomiko. Looking up the street, Kiyomiko almost physically facepalmed. Jiraiya was walking down the street with Naruto in tow, both of them packed and ready for a long journey and both of them arguing between themselves over some new, special jutsu.

"Oie, Jiraiya, you're late!" Kiyomiko drawled, folding her arms across her chest as she looked up at the older man. Both Jiraiya and Naruto stopped bickering and turned to look at Kiyomiko with confused expressions.

"Kiyo-chan? What are you doing out of the hospital?" Naruto gaped as he ran up to Kiyomiko, looking her over as if he were checking for even the smallest wound. "And what are you doing way out here at the main gate?"

"Baka-Jiraiya invited me to come along on an errand he needed to run." Kiyomiko answered casually, ignoring Jiraiya's cringe when he heard his newest nickname. Kotestu and Izumo looked like they were trying _really_ hard not to laugh. "Are you coming too, Naruto?"

"Yup!" Naruto cheered, his smile returning at maximum brightness. "Ero-sennin told me he'd teach me an _awesome_ new jutsu if I helped him out!"

"Oh, alright." Kiyomiko smiled as she ruffled Naruto's already messy blonde hair. Kotetsu and Izumo were snickering behind their hands, trying to maintain straight faces. "It should be a nice vacation for the both of us."

"Alright, that's enough, you two. We'd better get a move on if we want to leave sometime before nightfall." Jiraiya groused and Kiyomiko looked up at him with a raised eyebrow while Naruto looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Fine, fine. Let's get going then, Baka-Jiraiya." Kiyomiko turned and started walking out of the village with a fox-like smirk, Naruto following along behind her with a totally oblivious smile as Jiraiya was left jogging to try and catch up. After Kiyomiko had gotten a fair distance away from the gate, she heard a ruckus of laughter from Kotetsu and Izumo, apparently unable to hold back anymore.

"Baka-Jiraiya, she said!" Kotetsu's voice reached her ears.

"Ero-sennin, he said!" Izumo's followed soon after.

"**Those nicknames fit him perfectly!**" The two chimed in together and Kiyomiko chuckled, shaking her head as she kept walking, Jiraiya and Naruto casting her curious glances. Enhanced hearing was the best sometimes.


	11. New Friends And Old Enemies

"Ehh! I'm so bored!" Naruto whined, sprawled out on the double bed as Kiyomiko sat in the window, watching the people out on the street below. They had travelled most of the afternoon and the sun was just now beginning to set. Jiraiya had taken Kiyomiko and Naruto to a little village not far from Konoha, one Kiyomiko had been to before on her way to the village. It was a quiet place where mostly travellers showed up to stock up on supplies or stay the night, a few teahouses and gambling dens but most of the businesses in this village were hotels.

Turning to look into the room, Naruto truely did look bored. He was slowly sliding off the foot of the bed headfirst onto the polished wood floors, his legs dragging the bedding with him because he forgot to take off his shoes. Kiyomiko sighed and turned back to watch the hustle and bustle down in the streets, always finding it more insteresting to watch people as they went about their daily lives.

"Ne, ne.. Why do you think Ero-sennin took off like that? He said to stay here and wait for him, but it's been an hour already!" Naruto whined again, now laying on the floor with his legs propped up on the foot of the bed, looking up at Kiyomiko with a curious and somewhat annoyed expression.

"I think he's probably gathering information." Kiyomiko lied, trying not to roll her eyes. With the way that creep was panting when he saw the redlight district, he was probably doing something that would scar poor Naruto's mind forever. "I'm sure he'll be back any minute. I've been keeping an eye out for him, don't worry."

"Hm.. I just really wanna start learning that new jutsu he was talking about!" Naruto pouted, folding his arms over his chest as he looked up at the ceiling. A pair of scents reached Kiyomiko's nose as someone knocked on the door and Naruto's face lit up. He scrambled to stand, jogging to the door to open it. "He's back!"

"Naruto, wait!" Kiyomiko quickly stood but it was too late, Naruto had already opened the door and it slowly swung open to reveal a face that she had never expected to see again. Dark red eyes reflected a deadly sharingan as they looked down at Naruto almost as if he were disappointed. "Itachi-nii!"

Those deadly red eyes snapped up when Itachi heard Kiyomiko's voice and there was the breifest glimmer of confusion before realization took hold. Itachi stood in the doorway with another man beside him, both of them wearing black cloaks with red cloud designs on them. A picture flashed in Kiyomiko's mind, a memory of her Bingo Book, the man next to Itachi was Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Oh? Isn't that the little brat that would follow Orochimaru around like a lost kitten?" Kisame chuckled, looking thoroughly amused by such a turn of events, a giant weapon propped across his shoulders, covered in bandages. It reaked of blood so strongly that Kiyomiko almost gagged. "She's grown up quite a bit, by the look of her. Wait a second.. Wasn't she blind?"

Fear began coiling it's way around Kiyomiko's heart as she took a few steps towards Naruto, wrapping her arms around him from behind and pulling him back. Itachi and Kisame stayed in the doorway, looking as imposing as ever, Itachi's eyes locked on Kiyomiko as if he were confused but he didn't want to show it, like he was evaluating her. Kiyomiko hadn't seen Itachi since she was a child, when she had no control over when her sharingan would activate, so her father had made her wear a blindfold whenever they were around Itachi.

"Ne.. Kiyo-chan.. What's going on..?" Naruto asked shakily, backing up against Kiyomiko, his eyes glued to Itachi's eyes. "Why are his eyes like Sasuke's..? Why does he have sharingan?"

"Because he's Sasuke's older brother, Naruto.." Kiyomiko answered quietly, her cheek pressed against his ear. This was bad. If Itachi was here, then he might be on his way to the village. With the Hokage dead and the village recovering from Orochimaru's attack, there would be little resistance against him, especially with his sharingan! "Naruto, do you trust me?"

"Kiyo-chan..?" Naruto was beginning to shake, his voice wavering with fear. Kiyomiko quickly tightened her grip on him to startle him out of it.

"Do you trust me?" Kiyomiko repeated, hissing in his ear as she kept a careful eye on Itachi and Kisame. Finally, after a few seconds that felt like hours, Naruto nodded. "Then close your eyes. I'll take care of you, but I need you to trust me right now."

Hesitantly, Naruto nodded again and closed his eyes. Kiyomiko covered his ears with both hands as she looked up at Itachi, almost as if she were giving him silent permission to broach the topic that was bothering him. He had seemed to understand that she didn't want Naruto to hear, and he had waited, rather politely for a mass murderer.

"Does Orochimaru intend to interfere with our plan?" Itachi asked, his voice smooth and sharp at the same time, like the blade of a knife as it cuts across your skin. "I assumed that we had reached an agreement when he left, one arm short."

"I don't know anything about your plans but you should know that I'm not with Orochimaru anymore." Kiyomiko said, glad that Naruto couldn't hear or see. She could feel his heartbeat against her chest and she squeezed him gently to comfort him. "I left him five years ago, Itachi-nii. I've been in Konoha for the last six months, trying to get stronger so I can kill him.. But there's something you should know.."

"And what is that?" Itachi asked, standing in the doorway unmoving. Kisame was beginning to look bored.

"He's after Sasuke. He's already been marked with a cursed seal." Kiyomiko saw Itachi's eyes widen slightly, his eyebrows twitched. One thing Kiyomiko knew for sure about Itachi, he still cared for his little brother. "If you don't do something soon, Sasuke is just going to end up like I used to be, following my father around like a lost kitten or worse."

"There is nothing I can do about that." Itachi half-sighed, his eyes losing focus slightly and he blinked. Kiyomiko saw this and a gentle ache began to form in her heart, mingling with the fear that was already present.

"Your eyes hurt, don't they Itachi-nii?" Kiyomiko asked with a slight frown, her tone gentler than before as she looked up at the man she used to idolize when she was a child. "You're tired and pale, you haven't been sleeping. You've been using your sharingan too much."

"That is no concern of yours." Itachi spoke sharply, for the first time that Kiyomiko could remember. "Now, if you interfere further.. I'll kill you."

"Itachi-nii.." Kiyomiko's eyes widened and she fought back a shiver of fear. She knew what she had to do then. Moving her hand away from one of Naruto's ears, she whispered to him. "Naruto, we can't defeat these guys. In ten seconds, I want you to jump out the window behind me and run as fast as you can. Summon as many clones as you can to confuse them if they follow. I'll stall them for as long as possible while you find Jiraiya.."

Ten. Naruto nodded and Kiyomiko took a step back towards the window, Naruto moving with her, his eyes still closed. Kisame took a step into the room and Kiyomiko calmed her breathing, stilled her heart as she steeled her nerves for the battle that was about to take place.

Nine. Another step back as Kisame took another step forward, the surface of his weapon almost _moving_ under all those bandages. Kiyomiko could swear she heard a growl coming from it.

Eight. Damn this room for being so big. Naruto's heart was pounding in her ears and Kiyomiko focused on getting Naruto as close to the window as possible. She didn't know what Itachi wanted but it was obvious that it had something to do with Naruto. Naruto? No.. He wouldn't want Naruto. The Kyubi!

Seven. Kiyomiko could hear the crowds down in the streets below, the mixed-up scents of everyone down there as they hurried along through the market to finish their shopping as the sun began to set. Except one of the scents was familiar.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke.." Kiyomiko's heart dropped and Kisame stopped his advance as Itachi turned to look down the corridor. Kiyomiko could smell Sasuke's woodsmoke scent, she could hear his wild heartbeat in the hallway, she could feel his killing intent suddenly growing stronger. He was going to try and kill Itachi!

"Itachi-san, this kid has Sharingan like you.." Kisame said, walking back into the hall, leaving Kiyomiko and Naruto alone in the room, though they were still far from safe. Naruto opened his eyes as if he had sensed something had changed and his eyes widened when the realization struck him. "Who is he?"

"My younger brother." Itachi answered, confirming Naruto's suspicions. Sasuke was there!

"Uchiha Itachi!" Sasuke's voice almost sounded like a growl as Kiyomiko felt a wave of chakra building up on the other side of the wall. Naruto struggled and finally broke free from Kiyomiko as the two ran into the hall, Itachi and Kisame seperating them from Sasuke. "Just like you said... I've hated you, detested you, and just to kill you, _I've survived!_"

A sharp glow began to form in Sasuke's hand as arcs of electricity snapped around him, sparks flying wildly. Kakashi had taught him how to use a lightning attack? It was strong, but not strong enough against Itachi! Sasuke was so enraged at the sight of Itachi that he never noticed Naruto and Kiyomiko behind him, his eyes locked on his older brother with blind hate reflected in them.

"Sasuke, no!" Kiyomiko shouted, but Sasuke couldn't hear her over his Chidori. Instead, he charged forward and lunged at Itachi, aiming the attack at his chest. In one motion, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's wrist and shoved the attack into a nearby wall, dispelling it and leaving a giant crater behind where a plaster wall had once been.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gaped and quickly began summoning chakra, the same menacing chakra Kiyomiko had seen from the Chunin exams and before that, during the battle with Zabuza. He had learned to control it that well?

"Oh, what's this? The Kyubi's chakra?" Kisame asked with a malicious smile, showing his pearly white shark teeth as he took hold of his sword and slashed through the orange chakra that surrounded Naruto, the orange chakra being sucked into the blade. "Quite a bit of it, too."

"Naruto, that won't work!" Kiyomiko hissed, the air temperature rapidly dropping around her as frost began to coat the walls, floor and ceiling of the hallway, the flourescent lights buzzing and flickering against the sudden cold moisture in the air. The hallway began taking on an almost haunted appearance. "That sword of his absorbs chakra!"

"That's correct, little girl. My Samehada eats chakra. I'm impressed you noticed that so quickly." Kisame chuckled menacingly. "Let's leave the two brothers to sort things out on their own, shall we?"

Just as Kisame finished speaking, Kiyomiko heard a sickening snap and Sasuke screamed, Itachi was holding his wrist at an angle a human arm wasn't supposed to reach. Itachi had completely broken Sasuke's wrist and Kiyomiko growled. How could he? How could he hurt his own brother like that? _How could he?_ She had to do something! Ice began to form beneath Kiyomiko's feet, quickly replacing the light sheen of frost as all but one of the flourescent lights flickered out, bulbs shattering and showering the hallway with glass. Raw chakra poured off of Kiyomiko and she saw Kisame's amused expression as he raised his giant sword again.

Itachi noticed the change and looked over his shoulder at Kiyomiko, his eyes widening at her appearance as white-blue chakra swirled around her like a blizzard, instantly freezing anything it touched. Kisame's sword passed through Kiyomiko's chakra and he smirked, expecting things to go his way but his eyes widened when jagged sheets of ice crawled up the blade and encased it, his hand trapped around the grip. There was a flicker of understanding in Itachi's eyes but Kiyomiko still had one more trick up her sleeve. Sasuke had passed out and Naruto was behind her, so she didn't have to worry about being seen. In the blink of an eye, Kiyomiko activated her sharingan, her cool silver eyes turning blood red as they locked on to Itachi's own.

"Itachi-nii.. It's time for you to go." Kiyomiko's voice was soft, almost gentle as the white-blue chakra swirled around her, casting a haunting blue glow through the hallway. Itachi let go of Sasuke and stood upright, turning to face Kiyomiko with narrowed eyes as Sasuke slumped to the floor. Kiyomiko could feel Naruto at her back, confused and scared as he looked on, Itachi and Kisame standing in front of Kiyomiko with appraising expressions.

"What are you?" Itachi asked, his tone cold and detached as he came to a stop just out of range of Kiyomiko's swirling chakra, about six feet away. He was bold, even when presented with such a display of power. Kiyomiko knew that, even now, he was calculating his chances of victory, weighing his options and memorizing everything for the next battle. He had been an ANBU captain at 13, after all. Kiyomiko wouldn't expect anything less from him.

"I don't even know what the hell I am." Kiyomiko chuckled, looking up at the man she used to consider her older brother. Kiyomiko grinned menacingly, standing at her full height as she reached into her sash and drew her fan, Yuki's chakra pumping through her veins and making her feel drunk. "I suggest you go before I cause a scene. I may not be able to beat you, even like this but I'm _damn_ sure that I could do _a lot_ of damage."

From the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko saw a familiar figure creep around the corner behind Itachi and Kisame. It was Jiraiya! Being careful to keep her expression stone-cold, Kiyomiko opened her fan with a gentle click, blocking Naruto's view of Jiraiya so he wouldn't ruin the bluff. All of a sudden, something red and fleshy began growing along the walls and floor, wrapping itself around anything that moved. Jiraiya was attempting to capture Itachi and Kisame! In a matter of seconds, the walls, floor and ceiling were completely covered with the muscle-like substance and Kiyomiko allowed her chakra to fade, deactivating her sharingan as Itachi and Kisame turned 'round to face Jiraiya.

"Welcome to the Frog Mouth Trap! Itachi, Kisame, you're out of luck now." Jiraiya grinned, his hands still forming a seal as the fleshy substance grew thicker and thicker, wrapping itself around Itachi and Kisame's feet. "You're inside of a toad's stomach. I summoned the esophagus of a gigantic frog from the Myouboko Mountain's Rock Inn. You two are wanted criminals anyways. I'll turn you two into food for this rock frog. Naruto, Kiyomiko, stand still! This is my technique, so you won't get hurt."

Kiyomiko quickly grabbed Naruto's shoulder to steady him and she grumbled something colorful about the smell, a thick oozy substance she didn't dare name beginning to coat the walls of flesh. Quickly, Itachi grabbed Kisame and they tore themselves free of the muscle, running through the open door, into the room Naruto and Kiyomiko had been in and jumping from the window. The glass shattered and spilled out onto the street and Kiyomiko could hear the startled cries of the villagers in the market below. Before Kiyomiko could run to the window, their scents faded and she knew they were gone.

"Sasuke!" Naruto ran over to their teammate and slid to a halt as Jiraiya lifted Sasuke up in his arms. Kiyomiko walked up calmly, kneeling down beside her fallen teammate and checking him over, careful not to touch his wrist. Naruto watched as silently as he could, his eyes wide with worry. "How is he?"

"He's trapped in a genjutsu.." Kiyomiko sighed, sitting back on her heels as she looked down at Sasuke. He was pale and drenched in a cold sweat, twitching and thrashing as if he were having some terrible nightmare. "Itachi used Tsukuyomi on him."

"Well, make him snap out of it!" Naruto cried, grabbing Kiyomiko's hand and pressing it against Sasuke's chest. He knew that Kiyomiko had medical ninjutsu training, she had healed him before, away from Sakura and Sasuke. It had been their secret for months..

"I can't!" Kiyomiko hissed, pulling her hand away. Naruto could see the pain in her eyes and he quieted down some. "I'm not skilled enough to break him out of Tsukuyomi, but I know who might be."

"Who?" Naruto's eyes widened with a new light of hope. Jiraiya sighed and picked Sasuke up, carrying him into the room they had rented and laying him down on the bed. Kiyomiko and Naruto followed, Kiyomiko quickly tending to Sasuke's broken wrist.

"Tsunade. The woman we were sent to find." Jiraiya spoke up as he watched Kiyomiko sharply set Sasuke's broken bone without so much as a wince while Naruto went pale. With some broken wood from the shattered remains of the window, Kiyomiko quickly constructed a splint and strapped it tightly around Sasuke's wrist before she sat down on the edge of the bed with his arm in her lap. A healing green chakra began to glow from her fingertips and she set to work on tending to him. "She knows more about medical ninjutsu than most people could even hope to learn in a lifetime. She's a genius."

"Will she be able to help Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking up at Jiraiya.

"If she can't, then no one can." Jiraiya smiled reassuringly and ruffled Naruto's messy blonde hair.

"Ne, Baka-Jiraiya, you might want to take a few steps back." Kiyomiko said absent-mindedly, still looking down at Sasuke's wrist.

"Hm? Like this?" Jiraiya blinked and took a few steps back as Kiyomiko instructed, wondering why just as something green flashed in front of his eyes, soaring through the room and crashing into a closet.

"Yup. Just like that." Kiyomiko nodded as she tapered off the green chakra and carefully laid Sasuke's arm beside him. He was so deeply trapped in Itachi's genjutsu that he hadn't even felt it when she had set his broken bone. With a sigh, she pulled a blanket over him as Jiraiya and Naruto were preparing for another attack by the green thing, which turned out to be Lee's teacher, Guy, pulling his head out of the wooden closet door.

"Guy? What are you doing here?" Jiraiya gaped, looking remarkably like Naruto as Guy shook the splinters from his hair and flopped down onto the floor, sitting cross-legged until the stars faded from his eyes.

"Ah, gomen gomen." Guy laughed light-heartedly. "I came here to tell you that there was another attack in Konoha. Two men wearing black cloaks with red cloud patterns infiltrated the village and attacked Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai.. Kakashi is out cold and the medical squad has no idea when he'll wake up.."

"Tsukuyomi.." Kiyomiko breathed, looking down at Sasuke as her eyes widened slightly. Itachi hadn't been _going_ to the village, he'd been _leaving_ it! Itachi and Kisame must have gone there looking for Naruto first, heard he had left with Jiraiya and went to follow him. And knowing how much the village loves rumors, Sasuke must have caught wind of it. Turning to face Guy with a stern expression, Kiyomiko pointed down at Sasuke. "Take him back to the hospital in Konoha and tell the doctors that he's under the same genjutsu as Kakashi. It's called Tsukuyomi, something only a sharingan-user can perform."

"But how do you know about that?" Guy blinked, slightly surprised when a little girl spoke in such a commanding way. "And how do we treat them?"

"You won't." Jiraiya quickly stepped in. "The doctors in Konoha won't be able to wake them, they should just focus on everything else in the meantime, keeping them alive and healthy while the kids and I go and find Tsunade."

"You're going to go and find Tsunade? The Medical Specialist?" Guy's face lit up with joy. Kiyomiko could understand why he was so happy. It was because of Lee. Lee still hadn't gotten out of the hospital since his battle with Gaara in the preliminaries, there were rumors saying that he would never be able to walk again.

When Jiraiya had finally convinced Guy to take Sasuke back to Konoha, Kiyomiko paid off the hotel owner for the damages to the hotel, quickly hiding away her cash before Jiraiya or Naruto noticed it. Once Guy and Sasuke were out of sight, Kiyomiko, Naruto and Jiraiya left the hotel and continued on to the next town to check out a lead that Jiraiya had heard while he'd been in the redlight district.

-(o.O)-

After a few days of travel, Kiyomiko, Naruto and Jiraiya finally reached the town where Tsunade had been sighted. It was a large town, about the size of Konoha, built into a large crater-like gorge, the streets in perfectly neat rows with what looked like lanterns and decorations being hung up around every corner. The town was getting ready to celebrate some kind of festival. Games, prizes, foods, all kinds of vendors were setting up as quickly as they could as Kiyomiko, Naruto and Jiraiya stopped at the top of a hill, a path sprawling out before them, leading into the town's main road. Since she had left the hotel in the previous town, she'd been travelling with the beige-colored mask covering the lower half of her face. It had been easier that way, she had explained. It was better than being recognized. After all, it seemed like they were back-tracking along the path Kiyomiko had taken to get to Konoha in the first place.

"Alright you two, go and find an Inn. We'll be staying here for a few nights." Jiraiya said cheerfully as he dropped his heavy pack at their feet and marched off towards the redlight district, whistling a happy tune.

"Oie! Where do you think you're going?" Naruto shouted, furious as Jiraiya stopped marching and started flat-out running, leaving Naruto and Kiyomiko in the dust. Not that Kiyomiko was even trying to catch him.

"Don't worry about him, Naruto. He'll run out of money and come crawling back to the hotel room, drunk off his ass. Again." Kiyomiko sighed, picking up Jiraiya's heavy pack with one arm and swinging it over her shoulder. Naruto turned and his jaw dropped, watching as the frail little Kiyomiko hauled Jiraiya's pack all the way down the hill into the bustling town. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Uhm.. Ne, Kiyo-chan, has anyone ever told you that you're stronger than you look?" Naruto asked as tactfully as he possibly could, his expression giving off a newfound respect for his teammate.

"Hm..? Uhm.. No, I don't think anyone has ever told me that." Kiyomiko mused for a moment as they walked through the town, finding the closest Inn and walking inside.

After a few minutes, Kiyomiko and Naruto walked up the stairs to their room, a sly smile on Kiyomiko's face. She had just hustled the owner into letting them stay for four days for a quarter of the average price. Setting the bags down at the foot of the nearest bed, Kiyomiko immediately walked to the huge windows and opened all of them, perching herself in the windowsill as she usually did, while Naruto explored the rooms. She didn't really care about the rooms she stayed in, but she did care about the towns and villages, choosing to watch and listen to what people were up to. It had helped her out of some pretty rough spots in previous travels, so she had learned to listen to her senses.

"Excuse me, Miss?" A woman's voice came from the other side of the sliding door and Kiyomiko sniffed the air for a moment, Naruto freezing in place and casting Kiyomiko a worried glance before she gave a wave, telling him it was fine. He'd been nervous ever since their run-in with Itachi.

"Door's open." Kiyomiko called, hopping out of the window as the sliding door opened and a kind-looking woman walked in. She had short black hair with a few whisps of grey and pale green eyes, wearing a simple kimono that the hotel staff wore. She was carrying two bundles wrapped in brown paper in each arm.

"These packages were just left at the front desk with instructions to deliver them to you." The woman explained with a smile, setting the bundles down on a small table by the door before she turned and gave a small bow to Naruto and Kiyomiko. "Have a good evening."

"I wonder what's in them.." Naruto eyed the packages suspiciously as the woman excused herself, sliding the door closed behind her. Kiyomiko walked over to the packages and found a note on one of them.

"Heh. They're from Baka-Jiraiya, apparently." Kiyomiko sighed as she began to read the note aloud. "_You're on your own for tonight. The festival starts at sundown, wear these and try to gather information if you can. Enjoy yourselves._"

"What the heck is that all about?" Naruto grumbled, walking up to the table and tearing into one of the packages, pulling out a pale sea-blue yukata, dotted with orange and white spotted goldfish with a matching orange obi. "Aw, hell no! I'm not wearing this!"

"Naruto.." Kiyomiko sighed, taking the yukata from him and passing him another, one she had just unwrapped from the other package. It was a burnt orange color with dark blue dragonflies and a matching dark blue sash. "This one is yours."

"Oh.." Naruto fell silent, clearly embarassed as he accepted the more masculine yukata and gave Kiyomiko the one with the goldfish. "But wait a second, why are we supposed to wear these?"

"We're on a mission, aren't we?" Kiyomiko drawled, kicking off her sandals and stepping behind the wooden screen in the corner so Naruto wouldn't see her changing. Tossing her regular clothes over the screen, Kiyomiko quickly pulled on the yukata that Jiraiya had bought her, deftly tying the shimmering silk obi around her waist and slipping her fan into it. "We're supposed to gather information. Blending in will make that easier. If the locals think we're locals too, they'll be more willing to talk with us and gossip. But don't actually say we're from here, because that'll just cause trouble."

"Oh.. Okay.. I think I get it now." Naruto nodded sincerely, which led Kiyomiko to believe that he didn't get it but she let it go anyway. Stepping out from behind the wooden screen, Kiyomiko tugged her hair into pigtails, her hair lightly curling as she worked her fingers through it to smooth it out. "Whoa.."

"Huh?" Kiyomiko looked up at Naruto as he stared at her, his eyes wide. Kiyomiko quickly checked her appearance in a mirror, smoothing her fingers over the thin silk yukata to make sure she was wearing it correctly. "What, did I do something wrong?"

"N-no no! You didn't do anything wrong!" Naruto quickly recovered and laughed nervously, a faint tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks as he ducked behind the wooden screen and threw on his yukata while Kiyomiko slipped her feet into a pair of wooden geta that she found in the brown paper package. "So how are we going to get information about this Tsunade lady..?"

"By pretending that she's our long-lost aunt." Kiyomiko formed a few seals and there was a soft pop. After a few tweaks to her hair, Kiyomiko nodded with her approval. Naruto appeared from behind the wooden screen and his jaw hit the floor, taking in Kiyomiko's appearance. She now had long sandy-blonde hair and pale blue eyes. "Oh, don't look at me like that! Tsunade is a blonde. It would be weird if someone with black hair was looking for her, saying she was looking for her aunt."

"I-I guess.. so.." Naruto nodded and gradually recovered from the shock as Kiyomiko quickly put on some light make-up, peach-colored eye shadow and a soft pink lip balm. She looked like a totally different person, except for when she frowned at herself in the mirror. She kinda looked the same then.

"Well, that's as good as it's gunna get." Kiyomiko sighed, crossing the room to stand over her black canvas pack, digging around in it before she pulled out the wooden puzzle box. With her back turned to Naruto, Kiyomiko quickly tapped a series of wooden tiles and the lid snapped open. Grabbing a roll of bills, Kiyomiko shut the lid and stowed the box back in her pack and slipped the money into her obi next to her fan.

And then she did something strange.. Kiyomiko pulled a small scroll from her pack and opened it up on the bed, stuffing all of her belongings into her backpack and tying it shut before setting it on the open scroll. Naruto watched with a puzzled expression as she formed a few seals and the pack disappeared, a symbol appearing on the scroll that hadn't been there before. Rolling up the scroll, Kiyomiko slipped it into her sleeve where it wouldn't be seen and she turned to face Naruto with a smile.

"I'm ready. Are you?" Kiyomiko asked, seeing Naruto's thoroughly confused expression before she explained. "I don't like not having my things with me. It could get stolen or damaged when I'm not around. If I seal them up in a scroll, I can carry them with me at all times while still staying inconspicuous."

"You're.. kinda prepared for everything, aren't you?" Naruto blinked, following after Kiyomiko as she left the room, sliding the door shut behind them, her expression changing into an innocent smile as she assumed the character she was going to play to gather information.

"Of course I am!" Kiyomiko said in a sun-shiney tone as she grabbed Naruto's hand and the two children ran out of the hotel, ready to scour the festival-goers for information about Tsunade.

-(o.O)-

"I don't understand where it all goes, though!" Naruto whined the next morning as Kiyomiko returned with breakfast, setting the food out on the low table in the center of the room. "How can all that stuff fit in _paper_?"

"It's not actually _in_ the paper, Naruto." Kiyomiko sighed, kneeling down at the table and Naruto soon followed suit, piling food onto his plate with gusto. "It's at Shikamaru's house."

"Eh? Shikamaru's house? Why there?" Naruto dropped a slice of omlette, staring at Kiyomiko in surprise.

"Because the sister scroll is there." Kiyomiko explained, pausing to take a bite out of a hard-boiled egg. "There are two scrolls. Each one can send and recieve items. I left one at Shikamaru's house before I met up with you and Jiraiya at the main gate and every time I use this scroll, I send my things to a spare room in Shikamaru's house for safe-keeping. His mother, Yoshino, gave me the scrolls and insisted it would be easier. This is the first time I've used them over long distances, though."

"Ooh! Can you send a person there too, like those scrolls from the Second Exam?" Naruto looked at Kiyomiko with wide eyes and a mischievous smile. He was talking about the Heaven and Earth scrolls that, when opened together, summoned a chunin to the scolls' location. In their case, Iruka had been summoned to greet them.

"Nope." Kiyomiko answered with a tone of finality as she started eating her breakfast. "But, we could send back presents for everyone if you like. Souvenirs from the festival. I'm sure Mrs. Nara wouldn't mind making Shikamaru pass them out."

"That's a really good idea!" Naruto's eyes lit up with joy and he started to bounce around for a few minutes before he promptly stopped, suddenly looking depressed. "Except we have no money."

"Ahh, but that's where you're wrong, my bipolar friend!" Kiyomiko grinned mysteriously as she slipped her hand into her sleeve and pulled out some money, waving four bills in front of Naruto. "I have money and you can have some on one condition."

"What's that?" Naruto asked, dropping down onto his knees beside Kiyomiko, looking skeptical in between stealing glances at the money.

"You have to teach me whatever jutsus Jiraiya teaches you on this trip. Deal?" Kiyomiko held the money out to Naruto with a deal-with-the-devil expression, holding the bills in such a way that Naruto would have to shake her hand to get the money.

"Deal!" Naruto grinned and shook Kiyomiko's hand, taking the money and returning to his usual bouncy, hyperactive mood as he started thinking of all the trinkets he wanted to buy. Kiyomiko suspected that most of them would be for Sakura.

Sitting back and returning to her breakfast, Kiyomiko wondered just what kind of jutsus that Jiraiya would be teaching Naruto and, in turn, what kind of jutsus Naruto would teach her. Knowing that Jiraiya was one of the three Legendary Sannin, it was probably something powerful. At least, she hoped so. At the same time, she wondered just how Tsunade, the third member of the Sannin, would react to the knowledge that Kiyomiko was the daughter of her former teammate, the man that killed their teacher. Probably not very well, given the circumstances.

After Kiyomiko and Naruto finished their breakfast, the pair left the hotel and walked out into the town again. Walking to each and every shop, Kiyomiko thought about the friends she'd made back in Konoha, looking through various trinkets as she selected presents for each of them. For Sakura, Ino and Hinata, she bought matching silver bracelets with little flower charms. For Kiba and Akamaru, she bought matching dog collars made out of fancy black studded leather, mostly as a joke. For Chouji, she picked up a book of over one thousand recipes, detailing how to make foods from all over the world. For Sasuke, she bought a new set of kunai and shuriken, getting each piece engraved with the Uchiha family crest. Just as she and Naruto had gone to almost every shop in the town, Kiyomiko looked into the window of a run-down antique shop and she grinned, quickly going inside with a confused Naruto following after her.

The antique shop was dead-quiet, dusty and run down, most of the items for sale were beyond repair, but Kiyomiko had found the perfect thing for Shikamaru and she made a beeline for it. Careful not to bump anything as she crossed the store, Kiyomiko leaned down to look at the puzzle box she'd seen in the window. It was a small square box, made out of a chocolate-colored wood, the corners had been slightly worn away by time, rounding any sharp edges and giving it a well-loved feel. On the lid, there was a picture created out of carved and polished bone of a pure white stag stopping at a lake to drink, a black doe in the background. Smiling, Kiyomiko carefully picked up the box and quickly figured out how to open it, flipping open the lid to admire the soft grey-green velvet lining the inside. It was perfect. Almost as if it had been made for him.

Quickly paying for the box, Kiyomiko and Naruto hurried back to their hotel room to find that Jiraiya had returned, but promptly left again, leaving the room a complete mess. His pack had been opened and upturned on one of the three beds and dirty clothes were scattered about, reaking of sweet sake and cheap floral perfume. Kiyomiko quickly crossed the room and opened all of the windows, gasping for clean air as Naruto picked up Jiraiya's clothes and stuffed them back into his travel pack. Once the smell had gradually abated, Kiyomiko set down each and every one of her gifts on the low table in the center of the room and began wrapping them up in colorful paper. Naruto tried to wrap his as well but he kept tearing the delicate paper, so Kiyomiko ended up wrapping his gifts as well. Once all of the presents had been wrapped and their recipients named on the tops of the boxes, Kiyomiko pulled the small scroll from her sleeve and unrolled it across the tabletop.

"Ne, ne, you think everyone will like their presents?" Naruto bounced on his knees as he watched Kiyomiko arrange the gifts on top of an empty seal on the scroll, forming a seal to send it before Naruto stopped her. "Wait a sec! Shouldn't we write a letter too? Don't people normally send letters with gifts?"

"Oh, you're right." Kiyomiko stopped and dug around in her pack for a pad of paper and a pen. Using her best handwriting, Kiyomiko wrote out a quick letter and slipped it under one of the presents, sticking out just far enough that it would be the first thing seen. "Okay, all done! You ready?"

"Yup!" Naruto chirped happily and Kiyomiko formed the seals again. After a few seconds, there was a faint blue glow and a popping sound as the pile of presents and the letter disappeared, a seal forming on the scroll beneath it.

-(o.O)-

"Man, this is such a pain!" Shikamaru sighed to himself. He was standing on a ladder in the spare bedroom, carefully dusting the light fixture in the center of the room. Looking down, he could see an opened scroll on the floor with Kiyomiko's black canvas pack sitting over one of the seals, but his mother told him not to mess with the scroll, so he left it alone. Just as he was returning to his duties, a loud pop echoed through the room and dust washed over the entire room in the small explosion, startling Shikamaru and causing him to fall off of the ladder.

Once he'd realized what had happened, Shikamaru groaned and sat up, looking around the room. Scattered all over the floor were small boxes that looked like presents, wrapped in brightly colored paper with beautiful handwriting on them. From the corner of his vision, Shikamaru could see a note, hidden under a few of the boxes and he crawled across the tatami floor to retrieve it, opening the pale parchment envelope to read it.

"_Shikamaru,_

_I hope this finds you well. -_Shikamaru rolled his eyes and continued reading.-_ Naruto and I just wanted to send a few gifts and let everyone know that we're alright. We're staying at a small town not far from Konoha and the town is currently celebrating some kind of summer festival. We decided to pick up a few presents for everyone while we were gathering information. I hope you don't mind handing them out sometime soon. Yes, there's one for you too. Be careful, it's old.-_Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at this.-_ I don't know how much longer this mission is going to take but if all goes well, I should be back before autumn. Let your mother know that if she needs anything, to leave a note in my pack while it's there and I'll do what I can. I think I saw a tin of that expensive tea your mother likes.. -_She knew which tea his mom liked? Oh, that's right, her sense of smell is just as strong as Kiba's.- _I could pick some up if she's running low. Anyway, we have to go find Jiraiya now, he ran off with Naruto's money and we haven't seen him in two days. Take care of yourself and wish everyone our best._

_-Kiyomiko & Naruto"_

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the colorfully-wrapped presents that surrounded him, wondering which one was which just as his eyes fell on a pale green box with his name written on it. Remembering the note, he carefully picked up the box and began unwrapping it, folding up the paper and setting it aside. Looking down at his gift, Shikamaru smiled a little. It was a wooden box with a picture created out of bone of a white stag standing beside a lake, a black doe in the background. He could hear something rattling around inside and gently, he tried to lift the lid only to find that it wouldn't budge. Confused, Shikamaru looked all around the box for some sort of latch that he'd forgotten to unlock but when he found none, the realization struck him and he sighed.

It was a damn puzzle box.

-(o.O)-

"Ne, Kiyo-chan, what's with that smile?" Naruto asked, looking at Kiyomiko as they walked down the street towards the redlight district. Kiyomiko had been smirking ever since they had sent the presents.

"I'm just imagining the look on Shikamaru's face when he realizes his present is a puzzle box and he can't get it open unless he works for it." Kiyomiko snickered behind her hand, a fox-like grin forming on her face as the two children reached the redlight district. "Alright, time to find Baka-Jiraiya."

Kiyomiko put her hands on her hips and looked down the crowded street for any sign of Jiraiya's spiky white hair. Distantly, she could hear his loud laughter coming from one of the teahouses on the other side of the district. Taking Naruto's hand, Kiyomiko ducked and weaved through the crowd of men ranging from young to old and women dressed in all sorts of flashy clothes. Even at such a young age, Kiyomiko understood that redlight districts like these were the best places to gain information and maintain a certain level of anonymity. No one wants their families to know they were here.

Rounding a corner, Kiyomiko came to a stop in front of a cheesy-looking teahouse with pink neon lights, the words "Flower House" blinking above the door. Kiyomiko sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to Naruto and smoothing out his clothes and his hair some, doing the same for herself before she turned to look into the teahouse. Jiraiya was there, sitting on a couch in between two young, buxom women that couldn't have been more than 20 years old.

"Alright, Naruto, watch and learn." Kiyomiko flashed him a grin before her face changed, shifting to a terribly sad expression as tears welled up in her eyes, taking Naruto by complete and total surprise. Before Naruto even knew what was going on, Kiyomiko ran into the teahouse, crying like a little girl as she jumped into Jiraiya's lap, startling the two women. "Grandpa! Don't tell me you've spent all your money on booze and ladies again! How could you? You know that Grandma needs her medicine!"

"Eh? Kiyomiko! What are you doing here!" Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as Kiyomiko looked up at him with huge, teary eyes, her lower lip quivering with a perfect expression of childlike innocence and sadness. The two women on either side of Jiraiya looked stunned one minute, sympathetic the next and then angry after that. Naruto watched as the women quickly stood up and stormed out of the room shouting various obscenities as they left Jiraiya alone with Kiyomiko in his lap.

"Well then.." Kiyomiko sighed, her face returning to normal as soon as the two women were out of sight. Wiping away the fake tears as she hopped off of Jiraiya's lap, she scooped up what was left of Naruto's wallet, tossing it to the boy as he stumbled into the teahouse, stunned. Jiraiya's jaw dropped at Kiyomiko's sudden switch. "I think that little performance pretty much assured that you won't be getting into another cathouse in this town."

It took a few seconds for Jiraiya's alcohol-infused mind to process what had just happened but then all of a sudden, he looked mortified, as if his entire world had just been crushed. Kiyomiko rolled her eyes and picked up a bucket filled with ice water and dumped it over the pervy old man, drenching him completely. Naruto was still looking a little shellshocked from Kiyomiko's performance and Jiraiya let out a yelp of surprise, wiping the water from his face and looking a little more sober now. Tossing the bucket aside, Kiyomiko began scolding Jiraiya, not noticing the bucket slowly rolling out into the street in front of the teahouse. All of a sudden, she heard a metallic clang and the sound of someone dropping into the dirt, a long string of profanities coming from some _very_ unhappy person.

"Oie! Who left this bucket out here?" Kiyomiko turned to see an angry-looking bald man peering into the teahouse, a man in a cheesy white suit standing beside him, covered in dirt and dust.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that!" Kiyomiko put on her "scared rabbit" act as she quickly bowed, fake tears returning to her eyes as she looked up at the two men walking into the teahouse, using her childlike features to her advantage. The angry bald man looked a little stunned but the man in the stupid-looking suit still looked angry.

"You're gunna pay for what you've done, brat!" The man shouted, grabbing Kiyomiko by her collar and lifting her up, taking her by surprise. So, the scared rabbit act wouldn't work on this guy, huh? "I just bought this suit and it's all dirty now because of you!"

"Well, that's what you get for walking into a bucket." Kiyomiko switched gears instantly and took the man by surprise with her feral, fox-like grin, freeing herself from his grasp by kicking off of his stomach and landing on the table behind her. "You should watch where you're walking!"

"Do you even know who this is, you little brat?" The bald man spoke up as the stupid-suit guy recovered from Kiyomiko's kick. "This guy was a Chunin from the Hidden Rock village! He's a killer ninja who could seriously mess you up!"

"Another Chunin, huh?" Kiyomiko mused, calmly crouching down on the table as she looked up at the two men with a smirk. Naruto was looking between Kiyomiko and the two men with a worried expression as Jiraiya stood, looking completely sober now. "Chunin or not, I'll bet that this guy won't even last two minutes in a fight against me."

"Two minutes?" Jiraiya asked, looking down at Kiyomiko with a feigned expression of surprise.

"Hn. That seems to be the average with Chunins these days. Iruka lasted three minutes in the Chunin Exam preliminaries though, but that's because he was my teacher in the Academy and I went easy on him." Kiyomiko answered casually, ignoring the two men in front of her as they exchanged stunned expressions. "I _would_ love to fight with these guys, but I probably shouldn't attract so much attention, since I'm laying low and all."

"Well, it seems like this would be the perfect time to show Naruto that jutsu I wanted to teach him." Jiraiya said cheerfully, holding a hand out between Naruto and Kiyomiko. "Watch carefully!"

All of a sudden, a blue chakra ball formed in Jiraiya's palm, spinning and turning at remarkable speeds as he used his fingertips to guide and form the ball into a perfectly spherical shape. A blue glow flickered through the room and Kiyomiko's eyes widened as she watched it. Something made up of so much fast-moving chakra would pack a major punch! She wanted it! After Jiraiya was sure that Naruto had seen enough, Jiraiya turned to the two men and slammed the chakra ball into the chest of the man that had grabbed Kiyomiko. The man went flying back, taking the bald man with him as the two men were sent cartwheeling backwards out of the teahouse. There was a loud crash outside and a startled yelp as a water balloon flew into the teahouse and Jiraiya caught it, looking at it with a thoughtful expression for a moment.

When Jiraiya walked outside, Kiyomiko and Naruto followed to see that the two men had crashed into a balloon stand, colorful water balloons scattered all over the dirt road as a crowd began to gather around them. Looking down at the man that had grabbed her, she smirked when she saw that the front of his new suit and everything beneath it had been completely destroyed, showing a circular chakra burn on the bare skin of his chest. Kiyomiko walked up beside the man and knelt down, inspecting his wound with a careful eye as Jiraiya talked with the owner of the balloon stand. The man's ribs were fractured from blunt-force and he would have trouble breathing for a while, but he would be fine in the long run.

"Next time, don't stand there like a training dummy." Kiyomiko chuckled as she patted the man's wounded chest a little too roughly, causing him to yelp in pain as his bald companion groaned, shaking his head as he sat up.

"A-are you.. perhaps the Legendary Jir-" The man gasped, looking up at Jiraiya with fear in his eyes, but Jiraiya ignored him.

"I'm sorry about the damages to your stand, old man." Jiraiya smiled apologetically. "These two goons were roughing up one of my students."

"Here-! Take this as payment for the damages!" The man in the white suit studdered as he held up a heavy-looking wallet. He then turned to Kiyomiko and basically started grovelling, bowing his head over and over and apologizing profusely. Kiyomiko sweatdropped and just chose to ignore him.

"Ne, you don't mind if I take all of your balloons, do you?" Jiraiya turned to the shop owner as he took the wallet and pulled out an ample amount of bills, handing it to the stunned-looking middle-aged man.

"N-no, by all means.." The man said, accepting the money that Jiraiya had offered, his eyes wide as if he were still processing what had just happened. After the two men had limped off to the nearest hospital, Naruto and Kiyomiko quickly collected all of the balloons while Jiraiya talked with the shop owner for a little while longer.

A few minutes later, Kiyomiko and Naruto carried four large paper bags filled with water balloons and rubber balls as Jiraiya led them away from the town and into the surrounding forest for some training. The group came to a stop in a small clearing on a hill overlooking the town. Kiyomiko looked around with a faint pout. The trees here looked sick, thin and weak with hardly any leaves and the ground was dusty and mostly dirt with only small patches of grass scattered around here and there. What a pathetic excuse for a forest.

"Alright! Let's get to training!" Jiraiya grinned as he turned to face the two children, his smile faltering for a second when he saw Kiyomiko. "Kiyomiko-chan, you sure you won't be bored out here with nothing to do?"

"I'll be fine. I just came to help carry these balloons for Naruto." Kiyomiko sighed, setting the bags down in front of Jiraiya. "I'm gunna head back down to the town and see if I can't find something to keep me occupied. I'll be back around sundown."

With that, Kiyomiko turned and walked back down the steep hill to the village, leaving Naruto to his training with Jiraiya. She wasn't all that upset that Jiraiya had hinted that he didn't want her there, because Naruto would be teaching her everything he learned anyway. She should have expected it anyway, she supposed. Jiraiya still didn't completely trust her. Oh well.


	12. The Monster Within Returns

"_Kiyomiko, are you sure this is wise?"_ Yuki asked as Kiyomiko walked down the dirt road towards the hospital. She had left Naruto and Jiraiya to their training and now she was doing exactly what she had said she would. Finding something to keep herself entertained.

"_I'll be fine, Yuki._" Kiyomiko answered mentally as the hospital appeared in the distance. "_I need information and that moron from earlier is just the skeezy lowlife type to hear a lot of things._"

Kiyomiko had stopped at the hotel earlier and changed into her girly yukata, putting on some light make-up and putting her hair up in pigtails to make herself look as non-threatening as possible. As she walked into the hospital, her geta clicked against the clean tile floors and she wore a sweet smile as she passed the nurses station and walked down a corridor on the right, following a scent towards her target. Passing room after room, she came to a stop in front of a door near the back of the hospital and slid the door open, casually walking inside.

"Well well. It looks like you'll be laid up for a while." Kiyomiko gave a fox-like smirk as she walked up to a bed in the corner, a familiar man laying in the bed, half-asleep. When he saw her, his eyes widened suddenly and Kiyomiko put a hand up in a peace-sign. "Yo!"

"What are you doing here?" So much for non-threatening. The man was starting to panic and Kiyomiko smirked, plopping down on a stool beside him and propping her elbows on the side of the bed, resting her chin on her palms. "I swear, I didn't do anything! I've been here the whole time!"

"Are you going to stop freaking out, or should I go get a nurse to bring you a tranquilizer?" Kiyomiko asked with an innocent expression and the man settled down slightly, scooting over to the farthest side of the bed to distance himself from Kiyomiko. "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. I need information."

"Eh..? What's a pipsqueak like you need with information from someone like me?" The man asked before he fully thought-out that sentence. Kiyomiko smiled as sweetly as possible and the man went pale, apparently understanding that her smile meant that she'd kill him if she didn't get what she wanted. "Alright, alright! What do you need?"

"Good boy." Kiyomiko's smile faded to a faint smirk as she leaned back against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. "Let's start off with your name, shall we?"

"H-hideki.." The man studdered and Kiyomiko nodded. He had shoulder-length thinning rust-brown hair, a narrow face, tan skin and dark eyes. He was tall and lanky, a little muscle, which meant he was a part-time brawler, but nothing that she needed to be worried about. Whether or not he was a Chunin from some hole-in-the-wall village didn't matter much to her either, seeing as he stood there like a scarecrow and let Jiraiya land a hit instead of dodging.

"Alright, Hideki, we're off to a good start." Kiyomiko began in a pleasant tone. "Now, have you ever heard of someone named Tsunade? She's a blonde woman, usually looks like she's in her twenties and she loves to gamble. People call her the Legendary Sucker because she's terrible with her money."

"Y-yeah, she was at a gambling den here in town. L-last month.." Hideki studdered, looking a little confused but he was at least forthcoming with the details. Last month, huh? Crap.. She could be anywhere by now..

"Any idea where she was heading?" Kiyomiko asked and Hideki quickly shook his head. Sighing, Kiyomiko stood and reached into her sleeve. Hideki's eyes widened and he flinched when she pulled out a small roll of bills and dropped it into his lap. "Now we have a business arrangement, Hideki. Keep your ears open for any information about Tsunade and leave messages for me at the Kazue Inn on the main road. This is the last time we'll be speaking face-to-face. Don't try to contact me beyond leaving letters at the Inn. If you see me on the street, don't look at me and keep walking."

"But how will the people at the Inn know that the letters are for you?" Hideki asked, his eyes wide as he looked up at the girl, watching her as she stopped just in front of the sliding door. At this moment, she looked like any other thirteen year old girl he had seen, nothing suspicious at all. And yet.. There was something.. dark.. about her. He couldn't explain it and he'd never admit it, but he was intimidated by her.

"Draw three dots on the back of the envelope in the top right-hand corner. I'll tell the hotel staff to look for that." Kiyomiko answered, sliding the door open and walking out into the hall. The fact that she'd even thought that far ahead surprised Hideki and he gulped. This kid wasn't playing around. "Leave the hospital tomorrow night. I'll know if you don't."

"Wait a second, kid! At least tell me your name!" Hideki shouted, sitting bolt upright and wincing at the pain. Kiyomiko paused and turned back to look at him, her pupil-less silver eyes cold and calm.

"I won't tell you my real name." Kiyomiko answered, leaning up against the doorframe for a moment. "But if it will make you feel better, you can call me Winter."

With that, Kiyomiko shut the door and left the hospital, walking back to the hotel that she was staying at. Once she was there, she quickly found the kind-looking woman that had delivered the yukatas last night and pulled her aside, offering her a small fortune to keep an eye out for Hideki's letters and to keep them a secret from Jiraiya and Naruto.

She accepted, of course and together they worked out a system, a way of alerting Kiyomiko that the woman had a letter. She would leave a pinwheel in the flower vase on the front desk when she recieved a letter and Kiyomiko quickly learned that the woman wasn't just staff, she was the owner's wife, Kazue, the woman that the hotel was named after.

"_You were lucky today._" Yuki spoke up when Kiyomiko finally returned to her room, finding it empty. Naruto and Jiraiya were probably still training. "_That could have gone a lot worse than you had anticipated._"

"_Maybe so, but it had to be done._" Kiyomiko answered as she kicked off her geta at the door and slipped off her yukata, leaving it hanging on the wooden screen as she pulled on her casual clothes and flopped down onto one of the beds. "_Even with the risk involved, we need that information._"

"_I know.. I just wish you'd be more careful._" Yuki sighed in her mind and Kiyomiko felt Yuki's presence gradually fade. Kiyomiko closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her, allowing herself to relax, little by little.

"_Don't worry, Yuki. We'll be alright._" Kiyomiko whispered in her mind, not sure if Yuki had even heard her. There was still a few hours before sundown, when she was due to be back at that clearing in the forest where Naruto and Jiraiya were training. She could spare an hour or two and get some sleep.

-(o.O)-

A week passed by quickly for Kiyomiko. Every day, she went down to the front desk to chat with Kazue, the hotel owner's wife. It was always about trivial things as she checked for the pinwheel in the vase, talking about the weather, room service or asking for extra pillows. Every day was the same. No letters. After that, she would drop by a teahouse down the street and get a meal for three, to go, and she would walk out of the town and up to the little clearing where Naruto was training. She would sometimes see Jiraiya there, but mostly it was just her and Naruto. Every day, she would sit and use her medical jutsus to heal the chakra burns on Naruto's hands while he took a break to eat and every day, the tremors in his hands would get a little worse.

Today, however, Kiyomiko took a short detour from her usual routine, stopping by a small herb shop on the main road and picking up some herbs. Skullcap, Valerian and Lady Slipper. Stopping by the teahouse, she used the herbs to create a tea for Naruto to calm his tremors, putting the concoction into a large thermos. Slipping the thermos into the bag with the meal for three, Kiyomiko walked across the town towards the path leading to the forest. The festival had long since ended, but people were still out and about in droves, mostly travellers stopping to restock on supplies. The sun was high overhead as Kiyomiko came to a stop about a block away from the hotel were she was staying, seeing a familiar head of rust-brown hair standing outside it. Hideki. He was wearing another stupid-looking suit, this time it was banana yellow with a cherry pink shirt and a purple tie. What the heck was he trying to look like, an ice-cream sundae?

Taking her own advice, Kiyomiko kept walking down the street with her eyes forward, walking passed the Inn and taking the first right turn towards the forest path. When she reached it, her geta clicked against the cobblestone path and she memorized the sound within a few steps. Continuing on down the path, Kiyomiko's suspicions had been confirmed. That idiot Hideki was following her. Sighing inwardly, Kiyomiko started humming softly and jogged around a corner as if nothing was wrong. Once out of sight, she ducked behind the corner of a building on her right and silenced her breathing as she listened to the footsteps draw closer. But then, the footsteps stopped.

Before Kiyomiko could turn and look around the corner, a pair of large hands reached around her face and covered her mouth, squeezing hard. Kiyomiko let out a yelp of surprise as she dropped her bag and then an angry growl rumbled from her chest. She tried to fight back but she was being lifted up by the head like a ragdoll and she couldn't turn and face her attacker. There was a deep, raspy chuckle behind her and Kiyomiko's eyes widened. It wasn't Hideki! One of the large, hot hands left Kiyomiko's face and started groping down her body and a white-hot anger burned within her. She was going to kill him!

"Winter!" That was Hideki's voice, echoing along the walls of the alley. Heavy footfalls came closer and the man carrying Kiyomiko started moving back, going deeper into a dark alleyway, gripping the back of Kiyomiko's yukata so he wouldn't drop her. Oh no, Kiyomiko wasn't going to let herself be dragged off like some damsel in distress. She wasn't that weak!

Another low, dark growl rumbled through her and the temperature around Kiyomiko plummeted to well below freezing in a matter of seconds. Thick coils of ice formed around her and wrapped around her captor, trapping him in the dark alley and freezing him in place. Startled, the man dropped her and Kiyomiko turned slowly, a haunting blue glow surrounding her as her chakra began to freeze everything. He was a big, burly man with light, weathered skin, middle-aged with dirty grey hair, his clothes stained and wrinkled. She instantly recognized him as one of the men from the redlight district when she had gone to collect Jiraiya.

"I've been watching you..! I just wanted to be your Grandpa!" The man tried to justify his actions, his eyes wide as Hideki rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Kiyomiko raised a hand, touching the man's dirty chest and ice began to form along his body, covering him completely until he was frozen solid. His face was frozen in a state of horror and agony as Kiyomiko let her darkness take over just this once, pushing the frozen man down, the fragile ice fracturing across the paved alleyway, the man's body breaking into pieces.

"_Kiyomiko! Calm down!_" Yuki's voice rang in her head and Kiyomiko stopped suddenly, her white-blue chakra disappearing as if it were smoke. Kiyomiko slowed her heart and let out a steady breath before she wiped away the man's scent from her face with the back of her hands, her small body numb and trembling. "_It's alright now, you're safe! He's dead!_"

"Winter..?" Hideki's voice behind her made Kiyomiko jump and she turned, her eyes wide and flickering with fear. Hideki was as pale as a ghost, his dark eyes wide as he looked down at her, his hands held up in front of him to assure her that he wouldn't hurt her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine.." Kiyomiko breathed, forcing her body to relax. Why was she still afraid? This wasn't the first time she'd killed someone, far from it. So why was her heart still racing? Why was she trembling? She knew why, but she would never admit it. She would never speak of it beyond today, and she would force it from her memories as if it had never happened. Once she had calmed down some, Kiyomiko looked up at Hideki with a steady stare. "Why are you here?"

"I saw that man following you.. I wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt.." Hideki explained, taking a step closer and kneeling down so they were eye-to-eye, something in his expression betraying his worry.

"How very chivalrous of you." Kiyomiko said dryly, ignoring the sickly crackling sound of the ice behind her beginning to melt in the summer heat. After a few seconds, her mind slipped into gear and she took Hideki's arm, leading him out of the alley. "We can't stay here."

Hideki was startled, she knew that. She could hear his heartbeat loud in her ears, but he went with her anyway, leaving the alley. Kiyomiko quickly found her bags and gathered them up, dragging Hideki along with her as she marched through the darkest alleys towards the edge of town. Once she figured they were a safe enough distance away, she stopped behind a busy restaurant, the noise loud enough to mask their conversation. When she let go of his arm, she turned to face him. He was doubled over and trying to catch his breath as if she had been running.

The sun was high overhead, but the shadows of this alley were thick and dark, just how she liked them. She was a being born in darkness, after all. She had spent her childhood underground and she took comfort in the shadows around her. Once Hideki had caught his breath, he sat down on an overturned crate and held his head in his hands, silent for the moment. Kiyomiko set her bags down and jumped up onto a chainlink fence, perching herself on top of it as she watched him.

"Your hands are so cold.. Like ice.. Is that why they call you Winter?" Hideki's voice was quiet, any normal person wouldn't have heard him, but Kiyomiko wasn't normal.

"Winter is just a name I came up with. No one actually calls me that." Kiyomiko sighed, her long black hair loose down her back and swaying in a gentle breeze. Kiyomiko smirked slightly as her trembling subsided, lowering her eyes to look at the ground. "Well, no one but you, anyway."

"You can't be more than twelve or thirteen.. " Hideki said, finally raising his head to look up at her, his expression troubled. "To be able to kill someone like that when you're so young.. You must have been through some pretty terrible things.. What hidden village are you from?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you." Kiyomiko slipped off of the chainlink fence and landed on her feet, her geta clicking against the paved alleyway as she walked over to her bags and picked them up. "I'll be leaving you now. The less you know about me, the better."

"Better for who?" Hideki challenged, standing up and looking down at her with narrowed eyes. Why was he getting upset all of a sudden? Kiyomiko was the one who was just attacked. Then again, he did just watch her kill a guy..

"Better for you." Kiyomiko answered honestly as she left the alley and started walking up the hill to the forest. Hideki didn't follow her this time, which she was grateful for. She just wanted to be alone for a few minutes.

Dammit. The food was frozen..

-(o.O)-

The next morning, Kiyomiko was sitting in the quiet clearing just outside of town, watching Naruto train. He had graduated from training with a water balloon to training with a rubber ball and from the looks of things, he wasn't too pleased. The sun had fully risen over the horizon, but luckily the mid-day heat still hadn't taken hold. Kiyomiko leaned back against the base of a tree with a quiet smile on her face as she watched her friend try and try again, clawing at the sides of the rubber ball like a cat. She hadn't spoken much since yesterday, not even trying to explain to Naruto why she had arrived two hours later than she had every day prior, but he had seen the look on her face and he hadn't asked. Instead, he had saved some of his meal for her, which was a pretty sweet gesture, coming from him. Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Kiyomiko turned her head to see Jiraiya walking up beside her, hunkering down in the grass as he looked over at Naruto for a moment.

"He's really trying hard, isn't he?" Jiraiya mused, a thoughtful expression crossing his features as Kiyomiko turned to look back at Naruto with a warm smile.

"Yeah, he is." Kiyomiko chuckled, watching Naruto try once more to pop the rubber ball. His clothes were dirty and his hair was a mess, sweat covering his face, but he kept on anyway. "He's the type of kid that never gives up."

"You sound like you admire that about him." Jiraiya said, more of a statement than a question. Kiyomiko blinked for a second, trying to remember the last time she and Jiraiya had just sat down and talked.. They never had.

"What's this about, Jiraiya?" Kiyomiko sighed, lowering her voice as she suddenly understood. Jiraiya lowered his eyes for a moment, as if he were trying to word something correctly.

"There's a rumor that a body was found in an alley.. They say he was frozen solid." Jiraiya's voice was quiet and Kiyomiko closed her eyes, her expression completely blank. "I won't ask what happened, because I know you wouldn't tell me anyway. But.. I just wanted you to know that I'm not angry."

"Eh?" Kiyomiko opened her eyes and she looked up at Jiraiya with an almost calculating expression. What did he mean, he wasn't angry? Did he.. know..?

"According to some of the girls in the redlight district, this guy was pretty hated, asking some of the youngest-looking girls to do some pretty sick things.." Jiraiya sighed, almost looking sick as if he was remembering the horror stories he'd heard. "If what I think happened.. actually happened.. Then I don't blame you. You can go back to acting like you don't know what I'm talking about now. I've said what I wanted to say."

Kiyomiko looked up at the older man with wide eyes, watching him as he stood and dusted off his clothing. He knew it had been her and yet he wasn't angry? He didn't blame her for killing that man? Kiyomiko's head was swimming. She had prepared for Jiraiya to scold her as her father would have, she had prepared to be carted back to Konoha and locked in a cell, labelled as too dangerous to even bother with.. But.. he understood?

"Jiraiya.." Kiyomiko spoke up just as Jiraiya was turning to leave, the tone of her voice catching Naruto's attention. Both of them turned to look at her and she lowered her voice so that Naruto wouldn't hear her. "Thank you.. For saying what you wanted to say."

"It's nothing." Jiraiya chuckled and reached down to pat the top of Kiyomiko's head as if she were a little kid. Surprising both Jiraiya and Naruto, Kiyomiko didn't pull away as they had both expected, nor did she go rigid when someone she half-trusted touched her. Instead, she let him pat the top of her head and she _smiled_. It was faint, barely noticeable, but it was there. "Ne, Kiyomiko-chan.. Are you feeling alright?"

"Mhm." Kiyomiko nodded as she stood slowly, dusting off her yukata before she pulled a small white parchment envelope from her obi. "In fact, I have a present for you."

"Eh? What's this?" Jiraiya asked, accepting the envelope and looking it over briefly. There were three small dots in the top right-hand corner on the back of the envelope and on the front, there was only one word. _Winter_, written in masculine-looking handwriting. Naruto, curious, walked over and tried to peer over Jiraiya's arm as he opened the envelope, his eyes reading each line. "Kiyomiko..? Where did you get this?"

"Oh, are you surprised to find out that someone was actually working while you were out playing in cathouses all week?" Kiyomiko smirked, her usual expression returning as Jiraiya looked down at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ne, ne, Ero-sennin, what is it?" Naruto asked, jumping to try and see what the paper said. Jiraiya blinked for a few seconds before a smile formed on his face, a hearty chuckle escaping his lips.

"Kiyomiko has found Tsunade for us!"

-(o.O)-

After Kiyomiko, Naruto and Jiraiya reached the next town, they all split up and searched every gambling den and Inn they could find. The town was large, a tourist destination because of the old castles the town was built around. Splitting up, everyone agreed to meet back at the castle in the center of town when they had searched everywhere they could. Kiyomiko ran down the streets, being careful to keep her beige-colored mask firmly over her face, her Konoha forehead protector tied tightly around her upper arm. Searching for any woman that matched Jiraiya's and her father's descriptions, she soon came up empty and made her way back to the castle in the center of town. Naruto and Jiraiya met her along the way, apparently done with their searches as well.

"Any luck?" Kiyomiko asked, coming to a stop at the base of a huge stone wall. Naruto and Jiraiya came to a stop beside her, Naruto panting for breath as they both shook their heads. "I'm going to go higher up. I have pretty good eyesight, so I'll take a look around."

"Alright, we'll come too." Jiraiya nodded and the group set off, climbing the steep path to the top of the hill where the castle was built. Only.. There was no castle. The scent of fear and the sound of screams reached Kiyomiko's ears and she froze for a split second before she took off without a word. "Kiyomiko-chan?"

"Run! Run away!" An old man was running towards them, screaming in fear and Jiraiya stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Hey there! What's going on?" Jiraiya asked with a friendly smile and a wave and the man stopped, more like jogging in place.

"You'd better get out of here! There's a huge snake at the top of the hill! It destroyed the castle in one blow!" The man panted before he turned and ran off. Jiraiya's eyes widened as Naruto tried to question the man further. A huge snake? Is that why Kiyomiko ran off? Because.. Orochimaru is here!

"Kiyomiko-chan! Wait!" Jiraiya bellowed after her, but it was too late, Kiyomiko was long gone. Running along the high stone walls, Kiyomiko ran at her full speed towards her father's scent. It seemed different now, mixed with rot and death. That must have been the Third Hokage's doing, and he must be looking for Tsunade too. If he finds her first..!

Kiyomiko forced chakra into her legs and ran with all her might, the scent of her father's blood reaching her. Had he been wounded? No, the scent was too faint, this had been on purpose. Just enough blood for a summon, maybe. As she ran, she had to jump over parts of the walls that had been destroyed, giant cracks where the earth had split open leaving destruction in it's wake. That must be Tsunade's doing, Kiyomiko surmised, remembering her father's tales. Just as she drew close enough to where she thought her father would be, the scent disappeared and Kiyomiko skidded to a halt on her hands and feet, scattering remenants of broken tiles and stone. He was gone.. She hadn't been fast enough..

Dropping down from the wall, Kiyomiko landed on the paved pathway that led to the castle. The pavement was split and the walls were partially destroyed as if a minor battle had taken place. Following the scent, Kiyomiko walked straight to the spot where her father had stood, kneeling down to stare at the few drops of blood he'd left behind. She could sense Jiraiya and Naruto running up behind her, but she didn't care, lightly touching the tiny puddles of drying blood. He had been here mere minutes before she had arrived.

"Kiyo-chan! Where are you?" Naruto shouted as Jiraiya came to a stop on the wall above Kiyomiko, looking down at her with a hard expression.

"Kiyomiko-chan.. He's gone." Jiraiya sighed, dropping down from the wall to stand beside her. Naruto appeared soon, clamoring through the destroyed wall with wide eyes.

"I was too slow!" Kiyomiko snarled, her anger taking over for the briefest of moments as she slammed her fist into the ground, hitting the droplets of blood in a pathetic attempt to destroy them. The tiles beneath her knuckles shattered and Kiyomiko knew that she'd been cut but she didn't care, hot blood oozing from her knuckles and spilling across the broken tiles. "I was too slow to catch him! Orochimaru was _right here_!"

"Kiyo-chan.. I want to stop him as much as you do.. What he did to the village-" Naruto walked up beside Kiyomiko, seeing her anger and trying to comfort her, but he was cut off.

"No! You don't want to stop him as much as I do!" Kiyomiko shouted, a few tears spilling onto her cheeks and dampening her mask. "You have no idea what my father is capable of! Attacking the village was just one step, one part of a larger plan! He spent my entire lifetime planning that attack, he won't turn back until he wins or he dies!"

"Your... father?" Naruto's eyes were wide as the realization for Kiyomiko's words finally struck him. Kiyomiko slowly stood and turned to face Naruto, looking him directly in the eye as she raised her bloody hand and used it to lower her mask, using her other hand to unbind her hair, letting it fall over her face. Naruto saw her now, the resemblance, as if he were really looking at her for the first time. "Kiyo-chan.. That's not a funny joke.."

"It's no joke, Naruto." Jiraiya sighed, placing a large hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto flinched and looked up at his teacher for a moment before he looked back at Kiyomiko, tears still rolling down her cheeks even though her expression had turned to stone. "We've known about Kiyomiko since the end of the Second Exam. She's Orochimaru's daughter."

"I ran away from him five years ago, Naruto. I've been travelling from village to village looking for ways to get stronger so I could kill him." Kiyomiko looked away and pulled her mask back over her face, tying her hair back in a ponytail and avoiding all eye-contact. "I _have_ to kill him, for what he's done to me, to my friends, to Konoha.. I have to kill him before he tries to kill me again. I can't let him hurt anyone else.."

"Did you know.. that he would attack the village and kill the Third..?" Naruto asked shakily, a flicker of anger in his eyes.

"I knew that he was planning an attack, yes." Kiyomiko answered, her voice hollow as her cold, pupil-less silver eyes turned back to look at her teammate, someone she considered her best friend, looking at her with that expression. "But I didn't know that it was Konoha he'd been plotting against. I didn't know when he would carry out the attack. If I had known.. I would have warned everyone, I would have tried to stop him, kill him, even if it meant sacrificing my own life."

"She's telling the truth, Naruto." Jiraiya spoke up, giving Naruto's shoulder a gentle squeeze as Kiyomiko turned away again, suddenly looking frail and fragile as if she were made of glass about to break. "Kiyomiko came forward about her identity on her own after Orochimaru found her in the forest during the Second Exam. She attacked him then too, but.."

"I wasn't strong enough." Kiyomiko sighed, looking down at her bleeding hand with a look of loathing, cursing the blood in her veins as it trickled down onto the cracked pavement. "I'd like to say I put up a good fight, but he was just toying with me. That was his idea of discipline."

"You mean.. That's how you got wounded..? That bruise on your neck.." Naruto's eyes widened and all traces of the anger disappeared. "You nearly died!"

"That's not the first time." Kiyomiko sighed, bringing a hand up to the side of her neck, covering her old scars with her palm. Jiraiya remembered now, how he had watched Kiyomiko when she had first appeared at the village. She had held her neck like that when she was having a nightmare. Just how much had Orochimaru tortured this little girl? "And I'm sure it won't be the last until I finally kill him."

"What about Sakura and Sasuke..? Do they know?" Naruto asked, his brows coming together in a worried frown.

"No. And they can't find out either. Especially Sasuke." Kiyomiko turned back to look at Naruto over her shoulder, her eyes hard. She stood there amongst the destruction and she looked so painfully alone. "Promise me, Naruto. Promise me that you won't tell another soul about me. My life depends on it."

"Hn." Naruto nodded solemnly, his bright blue eyes lowering to the ground as his hands balled up into fists. "I promise."

-(o.O)-

After Kiyomiko had come clean about her heritage to Naruto, the group left the castle ruins and walked back to town. The sun had just dipped below the horizon and shadows reigned supreme as they kept walking, weary from travel and from the emotional rollercoaster that they'd just endured. Kiyomiko hadn't spoken since they left the castle grounds and she kept her pupil-less silver eyes on the ground in front of her, putting one foot in front of the other. People moved around them, whispering about the giant snake that had destroyed the castle and rumors became more and more unbelievable with each person they passed.

"Hey, how about we stop and get something to eat?" Jiraiya proposed, stopping in front of a tavern with a warm smile. "I'm sure you two are probably pretty hungry by now."

"That sounds good!" Naruto smiled, finally getting back to normal after the shock. Kiyomiko nodded as well and the three walked inside the tavern, the smell of alcohol and cooking food reaching Kiyomiko's nose, almost making her sneeze.

All of a sudden, Jiraiya stopped walking foward and Naruto bumped into him with a startled expression. Kiyomiko stopped and looked up at the man to find that he was staring, wide-eyed, at someone near the back of the tavern. Following his gaze, Kiyomiko's own eyes widened slightly. Staring back at Jiraiya was a busty blonde woman with a blue diamond on her forehead, recognition clear in her expression.

"Tsunade?" Jiraiya gaped, pointing at the blonde woman and Naruto finally followed his gaze, his eyes going wide when he saw the woman.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" Tsunade blinked for a few moments while Jiraiya, Naruto and Kiyomiko walked over to her table. Kiyomiko made sure that her mask was securely in place, hiding the lower half of her face as she smoothed out her messy bangs as much as she could. There was a time and a place for everything, and discussing Orochimaru's continuing bloodline wasn't appropriate in a tavern.

Once everyone had sat down, Kiyomiko taking the farthest spot from Tsunade, Jiraiya and Naruto ordered something to eat. Kiyomiko didn't because she didn't want to take off her mask and Jiraiya seemed to understand, choosing to come up with a poor excuse so Tsunade wouldn't get suspicious. There was a pleasant exchange of the usual niceties as everyone waited for their food and once it came, the awkward silence ended.

"Man.. What a day.." Tsunade chuckled, pouring some hot sake into a small ceramic cup, gulping it down before she continued. "I've been seeing old acquaintances everywhere."

"You mean.. Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked quietly and Tsunade paused, the woman next to her freezing in place for a few seconds. The woman next to Tsunade had fair skin, short dark brown hair and black eyes, she looked frail, but Kiyomiko could detect the scent of poison coming from her. She was no push-over. "What happened?"

"We just said hello, honestly." Tsunade sighed, tugging a deck of cards from the inner pocket of her haori and shuffling it slowly. Kiyomiko's hands balled into fists beneath the table and she bit her lower lip to keep herself from speaking, choosing to stare at the table and remain silent. "Now, why don't you tell me why you're really here?"

"I'll get straight to the point, then." Jiraiya said, taking the deck of cards and splitting them up, dealing them out between Tsunade and himself while Naruto ate, shovelling food into his mouth, totally oblivious to the conversation. "The elders in Konoha sent me. They've selected you to become the next Hokage."

For a second, there was a brief silence. Kiyomiko didn't react at all, because she'd already had her suspicions, but she saw Tsunade's eyes widen. Naruto choked on his food and the woman next to Tsunade, her name was Shizune, gasped as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. And then Tsunade chuckled, setting her cards down on the table in front of her to take another swig of her sake.

"I take it that you've heard about the Third, then?" Jiraiya asked calmly, his eyes never leaving his cards. Naruto looked like he was about to have a panic attack or something, quickly recovering from choking on his food as he looked between Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Orochimaru killed him. I heard it straight from him." Tsunade said matter-of-factly, showing almost no emotion except for a faint tremble in her hands. After a few seconds, Tsunade looked up from her cards to glance at Naruto and Kiyomiko. "Jiraiya, who are these kids anyway?"

"That's Uzumaki Naruto and Kiyomiko-chan." Jiraiya smiled, pointing to each of them in turn. Tsunade's eyes widened slightly after hearing Naruto's name before a flicker of curiousity appeared when she glanced back at Kiyomiko. A few seconds passed before Tsunade just sighed dismissively and looked back down at her cards.

"Hold on a second! How come nobody told me that _she's_ going to be the next Hokage?" Naruto finally spoke up, looking thoroughly annoyed as he glared at Jiraiya.

"Naruto, sit down and be quiet for a while." Jiraiya's tone was a little harsh and Naruto sat back down, folding his arms across his chest and pouting like a little kid. Jiraiya turned back to Tsunade with a polite smile. "So? What's it gunna be, Tsunade? Will you come back to the village with us?"

"That's not possible. I refuse." Tsunade announced shortly, dropping her cards on the table with some finality, taking another swig of her sake as if she were displeased with the hand she'd been dealt.

"Ah, now that brings back memories! I remember you said the same thing when I asked you out when we were younger." Jiraiya chuckled, a hint of melancholy in his voice. Naruto began grumbling some rather _colorful_ things and Jiraiya quickly hushed him with an almost threatening smile. "Don't worry, Naruto. Tsunade is the only person capable of becoming the Fifth Hokage. She was partly responsable for Konoha's victory in the Third Great War. Her knowledge of combat and medical skills are still unrivalled even to this day. Not to mention that she'd the First's grand-daughter. With all of that together, Tsunade is the most qualified to become Hokage and when she's there, she can treat your sensei and your friend. And besides, this is something that the village elders decided on. It's not something a Genin like you has any say about."

Naruto fell silent and sat back down in his seat, looking a little hurt by Jiraiya's cold words. Kiyomiko felt for Naruto, but Jiraiya was right. Now wasn't the time. The group stayed silent for a while and Kiyomiko looked up to find Tsunade looking at Naruto with an almost calculating expression, as if she were trying to guage what kind of person he was. Just what did she know about Naruto that she wasn't saying?

"Jiraiya, your new student seems to lack just as much manners and intelligence as your last student." Tsunade finally said with a sigh, picking up the cards and shuffling them once more.

"Yes, but then again it's hard for anyone to beat the Fourth in those fields." Jiraiya chuckled, ignoring Naruto as he glared daggers at Tsunade. "He was the kind of genius that only comes along once in a generation. He was smart, talented and popular with just about everyone."

"But even the Fourth died too young. He threw his life away for the village. A person's life isn't as expendable as money. Only a fool would gamble with their lives." Tsunade chuckled, her expression cold and distant. "My grandfather and the Second wanted to put an end to these foolish wars, but they wasted their lives before they could reach that goal."

"You've changed, Tsunade.." Jiraiya sighed, his expression grim as Kiyomiko reached under the table and took Naruto's hand in an attempt to calm him. Without realising it, Tsunade had been trampling all over Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage one day and he was furious with her. When he felt Kiyomiko's hand on his, he grit his teeth and tried to keep silent as best he could, but Kiyomiko didn't think that would last for very long.

"No matter how I look, Jiraiya, I'm in my fifties." Tsunade continued with a bittersweet expression, "Time has a funny way of changing people. Sarutobi was the same. If an old man tries to act brave, of course he'll die. The title of Hokage is just as foolish as the people who wish for it."

"That's it!" Naruto growled and tried to jump over at the table at Tsunade but Jiraiya grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked him back down. Tsunade and Shizune looked startled for a few seconds before Tsunade began to understand. "I don't care if you're a girl, anyone who talks crap about the Fourth or the old man deserves a punch in the face!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Naruto." Kiyomiko finally spoke up, her voice completely calm and level. Tsunade seemed surprised that Kiyomiko was talking after sitting silent for so long. Kiyomiko's voice took on a strikingly familiar hiss and a knowing tone, so very similar to the voice Tsunade had heard a few hours ago. "Besides, I know that you're lying about your conversation with Orochimaru. I can smell him on you."

"Kiyomiko!" Jiraiya glared from across the table but Kiyomiko ignored him, glaring right at Tsunade as if she were issuing an unwavering challenge. Tsunade seemed stunned for a few seconds before a dangerous smirk appeared on her face.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, you little brat." Tsunade chuckled.

"Don't talk to Kiyo-chan like that! She-!" Naruto tried to defend Kiyomiko but she quickly cut him off with a light laugh, leaning back in the booth as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I know exactly what I'm talking about, because I know Orochimaru better than you'd think. " Kiyomiko tilted her head with a faint chuckle, her pupil-less pale silver eyes still locked on Tsunade. "What impossible dreams did he promise you, Tsunade? What sweet words did he whisper in your ear?"

"You kids have guts to talk to me like that!" Tsunade stood suddenly, surprising Shizune and Jiraiya with her dangerous smirk. "Let's take this outside!"

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune spoke up, her expression fearful but Kiyomiko and Naruto exchanged knowing nods.

"Fine with us." Kiyomiko said, standing up from the booth and walking outside. Soon, the whole group was outside in the warm summer night air. Jiraiya and Shizune stood off to the side as Tsunade stood in the middle of the road facing Kiyomiko and Naruto as they stood side by side.

Something resembling excitement curled around inside Kiyomiko and she narrowed her eyes at Tsunade as Naruto glared daggers. Kiyomiko quickly evaluated the situation. Tsunade had been drinking, yes, but she was still one of the Legendary Sannin. She was no push-over. If Kiyomiko attacked head-on, she would get slaughtered. She had to be calm about this and use the element of surprise to startle her enough to land a blow. One blow would be just fine. It would prove that Kiyomiko wasn't as weak and useless as Tsunade had assumed.

"You know, even though I look like this, I was one of the Sannin! I won't need to fight seriously against either of you!" Tsunade boasted and Naruto growled as she raised her index finger. "One finger will be enough to take down a pair of over-confident Genin!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted as he sprung into action, whipping handfuls of shuriken at Tsunade, charging at her.

Tsunade easily dodged the shuriken by side-stepping them as Naruto drew a kunai and moved to strike. In a flurry of motion, Tsunade flicked the kunai away and poked Naruto's forehead, sending him and his forehead protector flying backwards. Skidding across the ground, Naruto quickly regained his balance and looked up at Tsunade with a deadly glare, picking up his forehead protector in one hand, his movements slow and sluggish, his eyes unfocused.

"Hey, kid! Before you pass out, let me ask you something." Tsunade chuckled, not noticing that Kiyomiko had disappeared. "Why do you care so much about the title of Hokage?"

"Because, unlike you, my dream is to become the Hokage someday!" Naruto snarled, surprising Tsunade. Gradually, Naruto stood upright and a blue swirling ball of chakra began to form in his hand. Tsunade's eyes widened as Naruto ran at her again. "And I'm going to make that dream come true and then the village will have no choice but to accept me!"

Just as Naruto was about to hit Tsunade, she brought her hand down in a blow against the ground, splitting the earth open and throwing Naruto off-balance, dispelling his attack harmlessly into the air. Naruto was on the ground, exhausted as Tsunade casually walked closer and helped him up. Thinking the battle was over, Jiraiya and Shizune moved closer too.

"Jiraiya, are you the one that taught him the Rasengan?" Tsunade asked with a sigh, turning to face the white-haired man.

"I _am_ his teacher." Jiraiya shrugged calmly as Naruto dusted himself off and looked around with a confused expression.

"You know that you and the Fourth are the only ones capable of using that jutsu to the fullest extent." Tsunade smirked, folding her arms across her chest. "Why teach this poor kid a technique that he'll never be able to master?"

"That's it!" Naruto snapped and held up three fingers, glaring at Tsunade with a challenging expression. "I'm going to master this move in three days!"

"Oh, you've done it now, boy." Tsunade chuckled and smirked down at Naruto. "A man never takes back his word!"

"I'll never take back my word!" Naruto growled, his hands balling into fists. "That's my Ninja Code!"

"Then let's make a bet, shall we?" Tsunade leaned down to Naruto's level with a coy smile, dangling a necklace in front of his face. It was simple, a small blue gem with two silver beads on either side, hung on a black leather cord. "I'll give you one week! If you can master that move at the end of the week, I'll acknowledge that you can become the Hokage. I'll even give you this necklace!"

"Tsunade-sama! That's an important-!" Shizune began to protest, her eyes filled with worry.

"Hmph! I don't need a crappy necklace!" Naruto folded his arms across his chest and shoved his nose in the air.

"Don't say that, Naruto. That's a rare crystal." Jiraiya sighed, taking on a studious tone. "It could buy about three mountains if you sold it. It used to belong to the First Hokage."

"Eh?" Naruto's eyes widen slightly as he turned back to look at the necklace, dollar signs appearing in his eyes. "Fine then!"

"Alright, but if you can't master the move in a week, you'll lose and I'll take all your money!" Tsunade grinned, holding up Naruto's buldging frog-wallet. Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his head as he quickly checked his pockets, stunned that she had somehow gotten his wallet.

"Tsunade-sama! You can't!" Shizune whined, looking at Tsunade with an expression of concern. "That necklace is..."

"He can't do it anyway." Tsunade sighed and tossed the wallet up into the air a few times as she turned to walk away. "Let's go, Shizune. Hm..? Wait a second.. Wasn't there another obnoxious brat?"

"_Forgetting something?_" Kiyomiko's voice shouted from somewhere nearby. Tsunade looked up suddenly to see Kiyomiko rocketting towards her, kunai drawn but just as Tsunade brought her index finger up to block, recognition flashed in her wide eyes. Kiyomiko wasn't wearing her mask anymore, her pale face visible in the dim yellow glow of the lanterns lining the street, her long black hair loose down her shoulders, just slightly covering her face.

"No!" Tsunade breathed. Reflexively, she put her full force into a punch that sent Kiyomiko flying, crashing through a wall of a darkened building fifty feet away, a crystalline _clang_ resonating through the air. Shizune and Naruto started to panic, but Jiraiya stood still as Tsunade realized what she had done, sighing as he put her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, Jiraiya. The girl startled me. I didn't mean to be so rough. Shizune, go and fetch her, will you? I'll take care of her wounds."

"There's no need!" Suddenly, Kiyomiko jumped out of the smoke and debris from the broken wall and landed on the dirt road, facing Tsunade. Shizune and Tsunade's eyes widened when Kiyomiko came to a stop a few feet in front of them, her steely eyes hard and cold, allowing herself to be seen. Gradually, she saw the questions appear in their expressions and she smirked. "What? You thought I was hurt? Sorry to disappoint you!"

"..How..?" Shizune whispered, gazing at the fragile-looking child in front of her with wide eyes as if she didn't understand. Of course, that was the natural reaction. Naruto and Jiraiya stood back, silent as Kiyomiko stood still for all to see. "How did you survive that without a scratch!"

"Like this!" The Kiyomiko on the dirt road diappeared in a cloud of smoke as another Kiyomiko appeared from a darkened ally, kicking off of the side of a building and propelling herself towards Tsunade. Tsunade turned but her mind didn't immediately register what her eyes were seeing. Kiyomiko was.. _glittering! _Before Tsunade had time to block, Kiyomiko landed a punch, her ice armor coating her fist as it cracked into Tsunade's jaw and sent the woman skittering back a few steps. Everyone was shocked silent as Kiyomiko landed in a crouch, her ice armor covering her entire body as Tsunade quickly recovered from the child's half-force punch, her eyes wide as she watched Kiyomiko slowly stand. Tsunade realised now that Kiyomiko hadn't tried to hurt her, only surprise her.

"Kiyomiko-chan, was that really necessary?" Jiraiya sighed as he walked over to the girl, an exhausted expression on his face. The fragile-looking little girl looked like she was completely made out of glass, a thin, patchy frost forming in the dirt at her feet. Tsunade and Shizune took a few tentative steps forward to get a better look at the clear substance that coated Kiyomiko's body. It was ice! "You didn't have to go that far."

"I had to get her attention somehow, didn't I?" Kiyomiko grumbled as her ice armor retreated back into her skin, her expression relaxing into one of annoyance as a warm breeze melted the frost and chased away the chill, the girl's long black hair swaying in the breeze. "She'd never listen to what I had to say, otherwise."

"And just what is it that you wanted to say that would warrant decking me like that?" Tsunade came to a stop in front of Kiyomiko, rubbing her jaw with one hand as she looked down at the girl with a mixed expression of curiousity and irritation. There was no backing down now.

"That when it comes to my father, I _do_ know what I'm talking about." Kiyomiko looked up at the woman with a challenging expression, her eyes never wavering as she watched a flicker of recognition in the woman's eyes. She heard Jiraiya's exhausted sigh and Shizune gasp as Tsunade knelt down in front of Kiyomiko with narrowed eyes, reaching up and brushing aside a few locks of ink-black hair that covered Kiyomiko's face. Kiyomiko stood her ground.

"My god.. Jiraiya.." Tsunade whispered, finally understanding as she looked at her former teammate's expression. "It's true, isn't it?"

"It's already been confirmed, Tsunade." Jiraiya stood and folded his arms across his chest, his expression solemn. "The Third ordered the bloodtests himself. Only a handful of people know."

"Ne, ne, Kiyo-chan.. I thought you said you didn't want anyone else to know." Naruto whined, walking up beside Kiyomiko with a confused expression. "Why tell _her_, of all people?"

"Because if she's going to be the next Hokage, she has a right to know." Kiyomiko answered, wrapping her arms around Naruto and resting her chin on his shoulder with a sigh. Jiraiya and Tsunade blinked in surprise at this, but Naruto didn't seem to mind, letting Kiyomiko cling to him as if it were perfectly normal. "Besides, I really wanted to deck her for underestimating me and sometimes using information like that can change the outcome of a battle."

"Um.. Naruto, why is Kiyomiko-chan clinging to you like that?" Jiraiya asked, kneeling down beside the two. Kiyomiko stood behind Naruto with her arms draped around his shoulders, staring at Jiraiya blankly with her cheek pressed against Naruto's ear.

"Hm? I thought I already told you.." Naruto looked at Jiraiya as if he'd asked something strange. He took on a studious tone as he began to explain again. "Kiyo-chan is like a stray cat, remember? She won't let people touch her if she doesn't trust them but when she really trusts someone, she'll hug them. Though, she's only like this with me and sometimes Shikamaru.."

"I wish you'd stop calling me a stray cat.." Kiyomiko pouted slightly as Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune sweatdropped, watching the two children. "But I suppose in this case, it's a fair enough explaination."

"Isn't it, though?" Naruto laughed before he suddenly shivered, hugging himself to ward off a chill. "I just wish you weren't so cold all the time!"

"Eh?" Kiyomiko blinked and pulled away from Naruto, reaching up and feeling her forehead. "I'm not that cold, though.."

"Here, let me." Tsunade sighed and reached down to place her hand against Kiyomiko's forehead. Kiyomiko flinched and almost took a step back, but she fought it and just went rigid instead, allowing Tsunade to feel her temperature, her eyes widening as soon as she touched Kiyomiko. "My god, you _are_ freezing! Is she always like this?"

"Mhm." Naruto nodded, a flicker of worry forming in his eyes. "Ever since the Second Exam ended. I remember cuz that's the day I met Ero-sennin!"

"Really, I'm fine! I'm not sick or anything!" Kiyomiko laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. She couldn't quite bring herself to tell them about Yuki yet. After all, how would she explain it? She's one of Orochimaru's freaky genetic science experiments and she just so happened to have an ice elemental sealed up inside of her? Yeaaahh.. That would go over well.

Somehow dodging the conversation, Kiyomiko followed the others back to a hotel in a quiet part of town where they rented a room. Tomorrow, she and Naruto were going to buckle down and train. Naruto had hidden away the balloons and the rubber balls for Kiyomiko to train with, fully intending to keep his end of the bargain they had made back in the last town. He was going to teach her the Rasengan. Kiyomiko was excited, but at the same time she was nervous. It was a difficult technique and she wasn't sure she would be able to learn it right away and Naruto wasn't exactly the best teacher.. But she'd give it a shot anyway.

Hopping up into the window of their hotel room, Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest and rested her head against the window frame, looking outside at the darkened city. She had slept in windows like this every so often during their trip, so neither Jiraiya nor Naruto were surprised when she didn't lay in one of the beds. They just accepted that Kiyomiko was more comfortable near an escape route and they let it be. Though, Naruto probably just chalked it up to Kiyomiko being like a cat. Chuckling to herself, Kiyomiko gradually closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax, drifting off to sleep.


	13. Forgiveness And Deception

_A seven year old Kiyomiko sat in a chair in a large undergound chamber, pillars and torches lining the walls to provide enough light to see the entire room. It was different from the underground compound that she used to live in, her father had left that compound and travelled south, to this one. She'd had a hard time memorizing it because it was so big, but after six months, she finally knew her way around._

_Dark red eyes stared at the floor as Kiyomiko swung her feet from the chair like a little child, the pure white fabric of her yukata matching her skin almost completely. Letting her mind wander, Kiyomiko hummed softly as a familiar scent reached her nose. Her father was coming. Moving quickly, Kiyomiko hopped off of his chair and sat down in the one beside it. It was smaller, so her feet touched the ground, but it wasn't as comfortable as her father's._

_"Kiyomiko.. You spend so much time in this room." Her father walked up to her with a smirk as he sat down in his chair casually, looking down at her. "What is it that you like so much?"_

_"It's quieter in here than anywhere else in the compound." Kiyomiko answered quietly, looking down at the floor. "When I'm outside of this room, I can hear so much noise from the people down in the prisons and my ears hurt so much.. It's driving me crazy.."_

_"And what would you suggest?" Her father asked knowingly, a hint of malice in his voice. The girl pondered this for a moment, tilting her head in a puzzled fashion until a thought struck her._

_"Can I kill them, Father?" Kiyomiko asked honestly, looking up at him with an innocent expression, her dark red eyes wide as they reflected her sharingan. "I would be quick and I'd clean up after myself! Please?"_

_"Alright." Her father chuckled and reached down to pat Kiyomiko's head gently, as if she were a puppy that had behaved properly. "You can kill them, however I want you to leave the strongest four alive and bring them to me."_

_"Yes, Father." Kiyomiko smiled and hopped out of her chair, drawing her fan from her sash as she skipped out of the room and down to the prisons._

_Passing all the doors and corridors, Kiyomiko finally came to a stop in front of a huge steel door with a giant padlock on it. Looking up at it and frowning for a second, Kiyomiko took a few steps back and channeled chakra into her fan. With a flick of her wrist, Kiyomiko sent a small typhoon at the door, wind blades slicing through the thick metal as if it were butter, causing it to break into pieces and fall into the dark room behind it. _

_With the door out of the way, Kiyomiko skipped into the dark room with the noisy prisoners, her bare feet silent against the cool stone floor. Skipping over to a large control box, Kiyomiko gave a little jump and grabbed one of the levers, yanking it down. There was a loud metallic clang_ _and Kiyomiko almost had to cover her highly-sensitive ears as dozens upon dozens of cell doors slid open, their confused inhabitants peeking out into the huge underground chamber._

_Walking away from the control box, Kiyomiko nimbly skipped down the stairs down into the center of the room, the place she called The Pit, and she stood in the center for all of the prisoners to see. A sweet, innocent smile formed on her face and she beckoned them all closer, seeing all of their confused and hesitant faces. They were all dirty, covered in filth, their hair matted and their clothing stained. She certainly didn't want any of them to touch her, they would get her pretty white yukata all dirty._

_"Ne, ne.. Come down here!" Kiyomiko chirped with a happy smile and gradually, the prisoners all began walking closer, travelling down narrow staircases and coming to a stop a few feet away from her. There were men and women, children her own age, yet this was normal to Kiyomiko. Once all of the prisoners had settled, Kiyomiko's expression somehow took on an evil tone even though she was still smiling sweetly. "Did you guys know that you're all really noisy? I can hardly sleep at all! So I'm going to fix that, okay? Only, Father told me that I have to leave four of you alive. I hope the last four are really strong!"_

_Without another word, Kiyomiko sprung into action, her dark red eyes wide as her face cracked into a wicked smile. She jumped around the startled prisoners, using every bit of knowledge that her father had taught her to train herself by killing the prisoners off one by one. A few even tried to attack her, but she quickly dispatched them with a flick or two of her fan, wind blades slicing their bodies into pieces sprawled out on the stone floor._

_"Aww, now look at that! I have to clean that up later!" Kiyomiko pouted as her attacks intensified, sending huge gusts of wind throughout the huge chamber, bodies being sliced apart left and right. In her mind, these prisoners were just like training dummies, like cattle used for target practice. She had never questioned her father's teaching methods, after all, she had gotten so much stronger since she had started killing._

_Using the blades on her fan, she easily sliced through the remaining survivors and stained the stone floor red with blood until only four were left, just as her father had ordered. Coming to an abrupt stop, she landed next to her last victim, facing the remaining four as only one sound filled the room. The last man's dying breath. Her large red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she looked at the four children standing in front of her, her expression almost appraising. There were three boys and one girl, all older than her by a few years and they all looked afraid, their eyes wide as they looked around at the horrific scene that surrounded them._

_"Congratulations!" Kiyomiko snapped her fan closed and slipped it back into her sash as she walked up to the survivors with a sweet smile. They stood frozen in fear as she came to a stop directly in front of them. "You were all able to survive! Come with me!"_

_Without another word, Kiyomiko opened her arms wide and spun around, carefully hopping over the bodies around her as she led the four children up the stairs and out of the room. Walking through the long hallway, the four children shielded their eyes from the torches that lined the walls as they followed Kiyomiko, too scared to attack her or try to run. Humming a nonsensical tune, Kiyomiko led the children into the great hall where she had left her father, opening the double doors wide and ushering the four scared kids inside with a gentle push._

_Once inside, their eyes widened when they saw a man casually sitting in a chair at the far end of the room, as if he were a king sitting on his throne, a smaller chair to his left. Giggling, Kiyomiko ran across the room and plopped down in the chair beside her father, sweetly smiling up at him. He chuckled as he looked over the surviving children and turned to look down at Kiyomiko with an expression of approval._

_"I did just what you wanted, Father! I left these four alive." Kiyomiko chirped, swaying from left to right as her dark red eyes glanced at the children as they carefully shuffled closer, their eyes wide with fear and confusion._

_"You've done well, Kiyomiko." Her father reached over to pat Kiyomiko's head gently before he turned to look back at the children. "Now, I want you to welcome them into our family. They are your siblings now and you will train them as I have trained you."_

_"Yes, Father." Kiyomiko's expression darkened slightly but she quickly smiled again, looking up at her father with a fox-like smile. "Shall I clean them up and feed them now?"_

_"Do as you see fit, child." Her father smiled and stood, the children taking a few steps back and huddling together as Kiyomiko stood as well. Looking down at Kiyomiko, her father gave her one last appreciative pat on the head. "I will be leaving tonight, so you will be in charge of their wellbeing until I return. Remember, Kiyomiko, these children are your siblings. Do not hurt them."_

_"Yes, Father." Kiyomiko smiled and watched as her father left the room, leaving her and the four children alone in the large room. As soon as his scent disappeared, Kiyomiko's smile gradually faltered, lowering her eyes to the stone floor. She looked frail and weak, her body appeared fragile as if she were any other seven year old. Regaining her composure, Kiyomiko looked up at the children with a distant smile. "Follow me. You're my brothers and my sister now. I'll take care of you."_

_Leading her new siblings out of the room, Kiyomiko walked down a series of corridors until she came to a large archway at the end of a hallway near the far side of the compound. The room was large with a number of beds pushed against the walls, candles on each bedside table. The room was immaculate, clean bedding, clean clothes stored away in individual dressers and it was warm in this room. In the far corner, there was a smaller door that Kiyomiko walked over to and opened, revealing the large bathroom with a large claw-foot tub._

_"I'll bring you some food as soon as you've all had a bath. Remember, there's no need to rush yourselves." Kiyomiko told the children, gesturing for the girl to bathe first, her expression still somewhat distant. "You'll all be here for a very long while."_

_"How long have you been here?" The girl asked, her dark brown eyes wide. The three boys behind her looked fearful, as if they were too afraid to speak but Kiyomiko just smiled._

_"All my life." Kiyomiko answered, her voice soft and a little sad. "It's best if you just do as you're told. Today, you will bathe, eat and sleep. Tomorrow, you will begin your training as shinobi. It will not be easy but it is necessary if you wish to survive in this world."_

_Without another word, Kiyomiko crossed the room and hopped up onto one of the high wardrobes, leaving the children to their tasks. They wouldn't try to escape today, she surmised, watching the girl as she disappeared into the bathroom and shut the wooden door behind her. They would try eventually but they would fail. Her father had built these compounds like a labrynth, a maze of corridors and hallways where you could get lost in a matter of minutes, everything appearing the same wherever you looked. The only reason Kiyomiko could find her way around was through scent, the smudges of perfume she left on every corner without her father's knowledge._

_Bringing a knee up to her chest, Kiyomiko rested her chin on her knee and closed her eyes calmly, feeling the eyes of the three boys upon her. She could hear their fast heartbeats pounding in her ears and she heard their footsteps as they hesitantly began to walk around, one of them slowly walking towards the door. A few paces from the door, the footsteps stopped and Kiyomiko opened one eye slightly to see that a dark-skinned boy was looking up at her as if he'd been caught red-handed._

_"You can go that way if you want, but I wouldn't if I were you." Kiyomiko told the boy, closing her eyes once again. She heard the boy's breath hitch in his throat before he finally spoke up._

_"And why is that?" He asked, almost challengingly. Without opening her eyes, Kiyomiko reached up into her hair and pulled out a senbon needle, whipping it at a stone tile that the boy had almost stepped on. There was a low rumbling sound, like gears grinding together and then all of a sudden a spiked gate swung down and slammed itself into place over the doorway, nearly impaling the boy on the spikes._

_"That's why." Kiyomiko answered, hearing the boy gasp and scurry back, falling onto his behind as he looked up at the spiked gate trap with wide eyes. "The hallways of this compound are a mile long in any direction, including up. It's a maze filled with traps and pitfalls that you _will_ trigger if you wander off by yourself. Though attempting to escape from those traps might be good training, I don't recommend it."_

_"So we're just supposed to sit here and play happy family with a monster like you?" The boy shouted, raising a fist at Kiyomiko in frustration._

_"Until you learn to take care of yourselves, yes." Kiyomiko answered shortly, ignoring the boy's hurtful remark. "Be grateful that you survived, brother. Today could have been very different for you."_

-(o.O)-

The next morning, Kiyomiko woke just before dawn to a warm breeze against her face. Smiling softly, Kiyomiko stretched her limbs as she sat in the window frame, her sleep-addled mind vaguely registering the warmth of a blanket draped over her. Wait a second.. Kiyomiko's eyes snapped open and she looked around, her pupil-less silver eyes sharp as she scanned her surroundings. Naruto and Jiraiya were still asleep, sprawled out on their beds and snoring quietly. They hadn't woken up during the night or she would have heard them. But then how did the window open and where did this blanket come from?

Suddenly wide awake, Kiyomiko looked down and carefully inspected the thin fabric. It was a deep red colored rough silk, scented with cinnamon and cloves. Kiyomiko's eyes widened slightly and she looked beside her on the window sill, brushing her fingers over the weathered wood plank. Sand! Throwing the blanket aside, Kiyomiko launched herself out of the window and pulled herself up onto the roof of the hotel, her sharp eyes scanning the rooftops of the town until she paused, narrowing her eyes.

Gaara stood on a rooftop in the distance, looking back at her with a blank expression, though his eyes showed.. remorse? She knew that he probably couldn't see her at such a distance but she still suddenly felt like he was looking right at her, as if he were silently asking for her forgiveness. But no, that wouldn't make sense.. unless he had given her the blanket as an apology. Was that it, Gaara? Kiyomiko stood silent for a moment before a gentle smile appeared on her face.

"Gaara, what is it?" Temari walked up behind Gaara and followed his gaze in the dim pre-dawn light. It was too dark to see what he was looking at, all she could see was rooftops in the distance as Kankuro walked up behind her.

"Nothing." Gaara answered with an almost inaudible sigh. He'd been acting so strangely lately, especially since they went to check out the rumors about the destroyed castle. They had been walking down the paths when suddenly Gaara had gone rigid before he took off in a whirlwind of sand, leaving Temari and Kankuro to run along behind him in a pitiful attempt to find him. They had found him a few minutes later standing over what looked like a bloodstain on the stone tiles amidst the destruction of the castle grounds, kneeling down beside it. After that, he told them to find a hotel and he'd disappeared until the wee hours of the morning.

"Gaara.. We should get back to Suna.." Kankuro spoke up carefully, taking a hesitant step towards his little brother. "A message arrived at the hotel while you were out, there's a lead on where Orochimaru's hideout might be."

"Alright." Gaara nodded briefly and started to turn before there was a dim light in the distance, as if someone had lit a candle, and Gaara froze, his eyes widening slightly. Temari and Kankuro watched with nervous expressions as the light gradually grew larger and larger, thin tendrils of light branching off and coiling around each other as they reached towards the stars. A cold breeze blew in their direction and suddenly the light shot up into the sky like a flare and exploded harmlessly over the village, a thin layer of cloud forming in the air.

"What the heck was that..?" Temari breathed, looking up at the whispy white clouds with wide eyes, startled when she realized she could see her breath.

"Should we check it out?" Kankuro suggested, looking to Gaara as if he were waiting for his orders. Instead, Gaara stood silent, looking up at the clouds as if he were searching for something. It was true, there was a strangely familiar presence of chakra in the air, almost humming around them.

And then, something began to fall from the sky, something the Sand Siblings had never seen before. Snow. Tiny white snowflakes floated down on the gentle air currents, glittering in the street lights as they fell down to earth, each one emitting a gentle blue glow of chakra, resembling fireflies. There was a crisp, clean scent to the cool air around them almost like rain, but it was so much sweeter.

"It's snowing.. In the middle of summer?" Temari whispered as she looked around, watching the snow fall. Every child in the Hidden Sand village had been told stories about snow and some were even lucky enough to see it when they grew up and left the village, but a vast majority had never seen it before.

"So, she has forgiven me then." Gaara whispered to himself as he reached out and caught a snowflake in his palm, feeling it's gentle chill as it lingered much longer than a normal snowflake would have before it melted against his skin, a familiar chakra seeping into his body.

"I don't know what this stuff is, but it's not normal snow." Kankuro looked around warily, as if he were skeptical of the situation. "I don't understand why but I feel great.. It's like.."

"Like waking up from a good dream." Temari smiled, holding her arms open as she looked up at the sky. "It's really refreshing!"

A few minutes of silence passed between the siblings as the snow gradually tapered off and the clouds disappeared just as the sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the small town in a gentle orange light. The mid-summer snowfall hadn't lasted long, but it had been enough that the siblings would remember it for the rest of their lives. An almost hatefully warm breeze chased away the chill and Gaara looked back at that distance rooftop where he'd seen the blue light before the snowfall. Now that the sun was beginning to rise, he could see farther and just as the last cloud was disappearing, he saw a small figure jump from the rooftop and vanish from his sight.

"Let's go." Gaara almost smiled for a moment before he turned and started walking away, Temari and Kankuro silent as they followed him even as they exchanged curious glances.

Kiyomiko dropped from the hotel's rooftop when the rising sun blinded her, dropping into a dark alleyway behind the hotel and rubbing her eyes in an attempt to recover her sight. She couldn't see but at the moment, that was fine. Gaara had apologized for how he had acted during the chunin exams and she had forgiven him.

"That was quite a display." Kiyomiko heard a voice behind her and she crouched into a defensive stance, pressing her back against a wall and turning to face the voice. "Calm down, it's just me."

"Tsunade..?" Kiyomiko slowly opened her eyes and forced the world into focus, seeing a blurry Tsunade standing a few feet in front of her with her hands on her hips and a knowing look on her face. Crap.. How much had she seen? Relaxing her pose, Kiyomiko plopped onto her behind and sat cross-legged, rubbing her eyes again. "Do you need something?"

"You don't trust me yet, do you?" Tsunade asked and Kiyomiko paused. Just what was she playing at? Kiyomiko looked up when she heard movement around her and she saw Tsunade turn over an empty crate and sit down on it.

"No.." Kiyomiko answered flatly, seeing Tsunade's distant expression. Shadows played across the woman's face and her dark brown eyes seemed.. cold somehow. "I don't trust people who hide behind a mask."

"That's a pretty deep metaphor for someone so young." Tsunade chuckled softly and folded her arms across her chest, looking down at Kiyomiko with a slight smile. "Though I'm sensing that isn't the only reason. There's something else, isn't there?"

"During the attack on Konoha, the Third Hokage sacrificed himself to critically injure my father.. I would have done so myself if I hadn't been protecting the village.." Kiyomiko explained, the pain in her eyes receeding slowly. "Judging by the fact that you haven't spoken about your meeting with him, I'm guessing that my father came to you in an attempt to rid himself of whatever damage the Third dealt him. That's the only logical explaination."

"You really are-"

"Don't bore me with another bedtime story, Tsunade." Kiyomiko interrupted dryly. "Do you really expect me to believe that Orochimaru just _happened_ to drop by to say hello? Or Jiraiya, for that matter? When I was growing up, my father told me about you and Jiraiya. I know what happened during the Second War. To the man you loved, Dan.. And to your younger brother, Nawaki. Except I know the whole story behind why your little brother died."

"You little brat!" There was a flurry of movement as Tsunade grabbed the front of Kiyomiko's shirt and hauled her up to eye-level. She was angry, Kiyomiko could see that, but more than that, she was hurting. Kiyomiko had been right, judging by her reaction, her father had offered her something that meant a great deal to her. "You can't just trample on a person's wounds like that!"

"My father let your little brother die." Kiyomiko said solemnly, looking the older woman in the eye as she placed her hand over Tsunade's gently, feeling the woman instantly freeze, holding Kiyomiko two feet off the ground. "Don't tell me you've never considered the possibility. My father knew that the area was filled with traps but he still let Nawaki, a Genin fresh from the Academy, run so far ahead."

Tsunade's eyes widened and gradually, her grip on Kiyomiko loosened, letting the girl drop to her feet as she looked up at the woman with a somber expression. Kiyomiko gently took the woman's shoulders and led her back to the crate, sitting her down as tears began to well up in Tsunade's eyes.

"Why..?" Tsunade asked, her voice sounding almost hollow as she looked at Kiyomiko, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know." Kiyomiko answered, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and pressing it into Tsunade's trembling hands, her own expression distant and detached, her cool silver eyes reflecting a flicker of sadness. "Because you need to know that my father doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's not capable of that. He will never honor any agreement that you may or may not have made with him. I know about his betrayal from first-hand experience.."

Kiyomiko reached up and pulled aside the high collar of her shirt, exposing the scars and the curse mark on the left side of her neck. In the dim light, the scars looked faint but Kiyomiko took Tsunade's hand in hers and pressed it against her neck so the woman could _feel_ what her father had done. Tsunade's eyes widened when she felt Kiyomiko's scars, deep and severe, the kind that would never fade away with time. He hadn't just marked her, he had maimed her for life.

"The first scar was made when I tried to escape. He caught me as I was running and almost slit my throat. I was eight years old. I don't remember how I got away that night but I've been running from him ever since." Kiyomiko explained to Tsunade, her expression distant as if the reality of her memories couldn't touch her. Tsunade realized then that this young girl, this child, was stronger than she was. This child wouldn't allow the terrible memories of her past haunt her. "The second scar was made a few months ago, during the Second Exam. My father had found me and he left me with this curse mark.. This sickness. I'm his own daughter, his flesh and blood, and he left me there in the middle of the dark forest to bleed to death. I'm his child and that's how he treats me. How do you think he will treat you, when he no longer needs you?"

"I don't understand..." Tsunade whispered, her voice hoarse from holding back so many tears. Kiyomiko's eyes looked hollow and emotionless, too much like her father's, but at the same time there was a strength that Orochimaru never had. It was _because_ of Orochimaru that Kiyomiko was who she was. He created her, shaped her, trained her and gave her all the tools that she needed to kill him someday. Those weapons just needed to be sharpened a bit, and she couldn't do that on her own. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying.." Kiyomiko began, releasing Tsunade's hand and looking her straight in the eye without a flicker of emotion in her expression. "Help me kill him."

"Kiyomiko-chan?" Jiraiya's voice from the roof made Tsunade look up in surprise as Kiyomiko sighed. Naruto and Jiraiya must have woken up and found that Kiyomiko was already gone. This conversation was over, it wasn't safe to try and convince two of the Sannins to kill the third, especially if Kiyomiko wanted any part in that battle. Kiyomiko wanted to deliver the killing blow and Jiraiya would only try to stop her.

"I _will_ kill him, Tsunade, with or without you." Kiyomiko turned and started walking out of the alley, pausing for a moment to speak over her shoulder. "I can't live my life looking over my shoulder in fear, wondering when another one of my friends will die by his hand. I refuse."

Without another word, Kiyomiko rounded a corner and disappeared, leaving the alley behind as she looked for a quiet place to train. This time, she would get serious, no longer caring if Jiraiya or Naruto saw her. All of her bloodstained memories were bubbling to the surface within her and now that her father was undoubtably nearby, she had a chance. Albeit a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. She had spoken the truth to Tsunade, she _would_ kill him, even if it killed her.

-(o.O)-

"_Kiyomiko, this is suicide!_" Yuki's voice rang in her mind and Kiyomiko sighed, coming to a stop at the edge of a large lake, far outside the town. "_Think about what you'd be doing! You would be killing not just yourself, but me as well!_"

"Yuki, tell me something." Kiyomiko asked aloud, stepping onto the surface of the lake and slowly walking out into the center. There was no one around for miles, no human had been to this place for at least a month. It was safe. "If given the chance at freedom, if I released the seal and set you free, would you take it?"

There was a silence from within Kiyomiko as she began summoning her chakra into her hands, her fingers forming seals as she waited for Yuki's response. It was hot, the sun was high overhead and there was no wind now, as if the very earth itself was waiting for something, breathless. It was the calm before the storm. Kiyomiko closed her eyes and activated her sharingan, her cool silver eyes turning to a sharp, deadly blood red.

"_Yes.._"

"Then we have nothing to worry about." Kiyomiko said coldly, opening her eyes and forming the final seal. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Justu!"

Instantly, there was an explosion of mist over the water, breaking the silence and startling a flock of nearby birds, causing them to fly away as the mist slowly cleared. When Kiyomiko could see again, she was surrounded by dozens of stone-faced clones of herself, all of them standing on the water's surface. As if driven by a single mind, each of the clones brought their thumbs up to their lips and bit down, breaking the skin and drawing blood. Using a small portion of chakra, each of the clones formed seals in tandem before slamming their bloody hands down onto the surface of the water.

"**Kuchiyose no Justu!**"

Hundreds of fox summons appeared, foxes of all colors and sizes looking around at all of the identical faces with curiousity and surprise in their eyes. A smaller black fox had appeared in front of Kiyomiko, silver fur streaking it's muzzle because of age, golden eyes looking up at her with a wise and knowing expression. Kiyomiko knelt down in front of the elder fox and lowered her head, her hair cascading over her shoulders like a curtain of ink.

"You seem different now, child." The old fox said, sitting back and looking at Kiyomiko calmly. "You look as though you're running to face your own demise."

"I am, Elder Katsu." Kiyomiko said, her tone respectful. All eyes, fox and clone alike, were on Kiyomiko and the elder fox. "I would like to ask for your help."

"Oh? What question would warrant such a performance?" The elder chuckled slightly, seemingly enjoying herself.

"I plan to battle against my father, knowing well that the fight will probably kill me." Kiyomiko said, watching the fox's reflection in the water as her eyes widened. "I need your help to prepare, to train."

"Training to battle a monster like your father would take years, child. Why the sudden rush?" The elder asked, a flicker of unease crossing her features.

"I fear that I may only have a matter of days." Kiyomiko answered quietly. "I know that he is nearby. He is wounded and seeks the aid of a healer. I believe he's given her a deadline in which to respond before he goes into hiding again."

"And that is why you have summoned me here, along with over half of our village's best warriors." Elder Katsu sighed, lowering her golden eyes slightly as if in thought. "What would you have me do? You have helped our village in more ways than I'd care to admit. I cannot turn you away."

"You'll help me?" Kiyomiko looked up at the Elder with wide eyes, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "You'll train me?"

"Yes. I will train you." Elder Katsu declared, her golden eyes hardening as they locked with Kiyomiko's. "But be warned, if we only have a matter of days, you must train night and day. I will give you five days of training. You may rest when we're finished."

Kiyomiko nodded and bowed her head in thanks. Elder Katsu turned and dispatched a small group of foxes to form a perimeter around the lake to ensure that no one would stumble into the battleground. Soon after, she began grouping Kiyomiko's clones together with different groups of foxes. Each group would learn something different, ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu and how to fight against it. Just before the training began, Elder Katsu pulled Kiyomiko aside, a short distance away from the others.

"Kiyomiko, tell me the truth now." Elder Katsu lowered her voice as Kiyomiko knelt down before the aged fox. "You have a spirit sealed within you, yes?"

"Yes." Kiyomiko answered, feeling a twinge of worry seeing the elder's expression. "An ice elemental."

"Is there any danger that it may become harmful to you, or to my kind?" The old fox asked, her eyes serious as they stared at Kiyomiko. "Has it ever forcibly taken control of you?"

"No, he's never done that." Kiyomiko answered again, "Yuki has been with me since I was an infant and he's never taken over my body or harmed anyone. Everything he's done has been to protect me."

"I'd imagine that he has some serious reservations about what you're doing now, then?" Elder Katsu sat back with a weary sigh.

"Yes, he does.. But.." Kiyomiko paused for a moment as she tried to word her feelings best. "But he knows that this is important to me.. I would rather die than let my father hurt anyone else like he hurt me.. If it comes down to it, I plan to release the seal that binds Yuki to me, even if it takes the last of my chakra and my dying breath to do it.. He knows that."

"I admire your determination, child." Katsu frowned slightly, a flicker of worry in her aged golden eyes. "However, sometimes I question your judgement. Nevertheless, you have asked me to train you and train you, I shall. What you do with that training is beyond my control."

-(o.O)-

Jiraiya sighed as he wandered through the town for the third time that day. The sun was setting and an orange glow contrasted the long black shadows that sprawled across the ground. The town was exactly the same as it had been the last time he'd walked through it and exactly the same as it had been since Kiyomiko had gone missing, four days ago. Naruto was beginning to panic and, truth be told, Jiraiya was beginning to feel the same way. They had woken up one morning to find Kiyomiko had completely vanished and later, Jiraiya saw Tsunade sitting in an alley behind the hotel, her eyes red from crying. Just what had happened that Tsunade wasn't telling him?

"Ne ne, did you hear?" Jiraiya was just walking passed a quiet tavern when a raised voice caught his attention. "You know the forest east of here? Apparently, there's a pack of wild foxes out by the Komon lake. Everyone who sees them says they're acting strangely. It's like they're guarding something!"

"Maybe they found treasure!" A woman's voice laughed.

With a sigh, Jiraiya quickly turned and began walking east. He had heard that Kiyomiko was able to summon foxes and he had seen a giant white fox in the village during Orochimaru's attack. This thing with the foxes in the forest.. Could that be her? If the foxes were guarding her, they probably wouldn't let him pass, but luckily, Jiraiya had a few tricks of his own. He _was_ and infiltration genius, after all.

Worry gnawing at his gut, Jiraiya picked up the pace and jumped to the rooftops, running towards the eastern forest. He remembered the look on Kiyomiko's face when she had told Naruto about her father, that look of loathing when she stared at her bloody hand, as if she had been cursing her very existence. She had told Tsunade that she'd been able to smell Orochimaru on her that night during dinner, had she picked up his scent somewhere else and ran off to find him? He hoped not.. He had been trying to give Kiyomiko her space, since her situation was.. difficult, but if she had gone to fight Orochimaru and gotten wounded because of it, he'd never forgive himself for letting her out of his sight..

Leaving the town and reaching the edge of the forest, Jiraiya could sense large amounts of chakra nearby, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as his skin began to tingle with an almost electrical charge. Quickly dropping from the trees, Jiraiya masked his presence as only one of the Sannin could and carefully approached the area where the chakra was the strongest. There was a strong chill in the air and a thick mist curled across the ground, muting the sounds of the forest as the sounds of battle could be heard in the distance.

Suddenly, there was a soft rustling in the brush around him and Jiraiya froze in his tracks, realizing that he'd been surrounded. How had that happened? He hadn't sensed anything other than animals around him.. And then he remembered. The wild foxes that surrounded the lake had been acting strangely. They hadn't been wild foxes at all, they had been summons.

"You can come out now. I mean no harm." Jiraiya spoke calmly, walking into a clear area and allowing himself to be seen. The rustling increased and soon a single large brown fox appeared ahead of him, larger than any normal fox he'd ever seen, three tails swishing behind it in irritation.

"I cannot allow you to pass, Human, though I congratulate you on being able to sense us so quickly." The fox began to speak, it's voice rough and distinctly male. A scar marked it's face, travelling from it's brow to it's cheek, marring it's deep black eyes.

"My name is Jiraiya and I've come to find my student. Her name is Kiyomiko." Jiraiya explained, keeping his tone calm and steady. "She's been missing for four days."

"Hn.." A low rumble came from the fox's chest as it's eyes narrowed. For a few minutes, there was only silence between Jiraiya and the fox, the fox looking at him as if measuring his worth, appraising him. Then, slowly, the fox raised his head and let out a loud, sharp bark and the rustling in the forest resumed, growing ever distant as the large brown fox turned and disappeared back into the forest. Jiraiya had been given permission to continue deeper into the forest.

Resuming his trek through the thick woods, Jiraiya could sense that the foxes were following him, staying at a safe distance as if to watch him. Jiraiya kept on his best behavior as he walked towards the lake, the sounds of battle and the sensation of chakra growing stronger with each step. Soon, Jiraiya saw the lake through the trees ahead of him, dozens of figures moving across it on foot as if fighting a heated battle.

Finally reaching the lake, Jiraiya stepped out of the treeline and onto the shore, his eyes widening at what he saw. Dozens of Kiyomiko's battled against foxes of every color, three main groups standing atop the surface of the water as if battling for dominance with the others, while a few smaller groups lined the shore opposite him. For a moment, he couldn't believe his eyes, thinking he'd been trapped in some sort of genjutsu until an old black fox turned and looked his way, golden eyes narrowed appraisingly. That must be the Elder of the foxes, the leader!

"That's enough!" The black fox called out in a feminine voice and the sounds of battle ceased, foxes and clones ending their fights and pausing to catch their breath. All of Kiyomiko's clones knelt down and caught their breath, deep red eyes revealing sharingan in every one of them. "Kiyomiko, unsummon your clones and rest! Allow your spirit to heal you!"

"Yes, Elder Katsu!" The Kiyomiko clones bowed their heads in respect before they all disappeared in clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, only one Kiyomiko remained in the center of the lake, standing still as if paralyzed. A dozen or so foxes immediately appeared behind her, preparing to catch her, Kiyomiko's eyes rolling back as she fainted. Carefully, the foxes carried Kiyomiko to the shoreline and laid her down on a prepared bed of grasses and leaves as the elder black fox walked over to Jiraiya and sat down at his feet casually.

"Sit down, Human. Let's talk for a while." The elder fox turned and faced the lake as Jiraiya sat down on the shoreline beside her, his eyes glancing at Kiyomiko's still form. A handful of foxes sat around her, treating her various wounds almost like a medical team would. Seemingly knowing where he was looking, the elder fox spoke with a faint chuckle. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. She has a healer with her that can heal any ailment."

"How long has she been here?" Jiraiya asked, tearing his eyes away from Kiyomiko's pale and battered form to look down at the small fox beside him with a troubled expression. A warm breeze swept over the lake and dispelled some of the chilly mist, revealing that a thick layer of ice had formed over the surface of the lake.

"This is the fourth day since Kiyomiko summoned me and asked for my help." The fox answered. "I have been training her ever since. We all have. Every fox you see here was summoned by Kiyomiko four days ago and not one has left yet. They have been taking shifts between resting, standing guard, and training with Kiyomiko."

"Such dedication for such a little girl.." Jiraiya breathed as he looked around at all of the foxes. There must have been a hundred of them, all sitting along the shore in groups of twos and threes as they rested and tended to each other's wounds. In the distance, Jiraiya recognized the large brown fox that he had encountered earlier.

"She's not just any little girl." The elder chuckled softly. "Kiyomiko stumbled upon our hidden village once, four years ago. She was battered and broken, covered in her own blood after her father's mercenaries had nearly killed her. Our healers tended to her and she healed faster than anyone had ever expected. We were at war then and when Kiyomiko woke, she offered to fight with us to repay our kindness. Of course we told her no, and of course she went ahead anyway. In one night, she single-handedly saved our village by scaring off our enemies, all without killing a single one. Since then, we've accepted her as one of our own, allowing her to summon any of us at any time. There's not a fox or vixen among us who wouldn't gladly die for her."

"Kiyomiko did all that when she was nine years old?" Jiraiya blinked, not sure if he'd heard the elder correctly. Was it possible that he was underestimating just how strong she was? He knew that she was the same age as Naruto, but.. For her to be able to do such things..

"Yes." The elder nodded, turning to look at Jiraiya with a faint smile. "Her father taught her well. However, it is because of her father that we are here today. We are attempting to repay our debt by training her."

"What has Kiyomiko told you about her father, in regards to the present situation?" Jiraiya asked, his strong features creasing into a troubled frown. If Kiyomiko had asked for help with her training, she must suspect something. And Jiriya could only assume that it had something to do with Tsunade, since he found her crying in the alley the morning that Kiyomiko disappeared.

"She has told me that her father is wounded and that now would be the only logical time to strike. She said that he has visited a healer nearby and may go into hiding in a matter of days." Elder Katsu explained, her voice taking on a weary, aged tone. "She knows that if she strikes now, she will not survive the battle. Unfortunately, I am inclined to agree. She is not yet strong enough and training such as this would normally take years. However she seems determined to rid the world of her father's presence, before he harms someone else as he has harmed her."

"Snake!" A voice shouted over the lake, loud and clear like a warning bell and every fox quickly jumped to attention, their eyes narrowed as they scanned their surroundings. A small team of foxes surrounded Kiyomiko as the rest chittered and chirped between each other, scouring the shoreline and the surrounding forest for snakesigns.

"What's going on?" Jiraiya asked, watching the almost tactical movements of the foxes as they hunted. Elder Katsu turned and looked up at him with a sigh.

"There has been an increased number of snakes in the area. Small ones that slip past our perimeters as they try to reach the lake." Elder Katsu explained, her wisened golden eyes flickering with a troubled expression. "We believe that these snakes have been sent by Kiyomiko's father, so we've been attempting to keep them away. Unfortunately, as you can see, some still manage to get even _this_ close."

Just as Elder Katsu had finished speaking, there was a shrill chirp from one of the smaller foxes of the pack as it pounced on something in the distance, at least half a dozen other foxes surrounding it as they worked together in an attempt to tear something apart. There was a soft pop and a cloud of smoke exploded between the foxes, signalling that something had just been unsummoned. It had escaped.

-(o.O)-

"Wake up, child." That must be Elder Katsu, trying to wake her for more training. The air was humid and smelled like rain. But wait a second, hadn't the skies been clear when she collapsed? How long had she been asleep?

"Ungh.. I'm up.." Kiyomiko groaned and slowly tried to sit up, her muscles and joints screaming at her in protest. She felt like she hadn't moved in days, sluggish and slow as she forced herself into a sitting position, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead in an attempt to negate the dizziness before she opened her eyes.

It took a moment for Kiyomiko to process what was going on. She was still at the lake where she had been training, Elder Katsu sitting in front of her. A quick glance around told her that they were alone, all of the other foxes had unsummoned themselves and returned to their village. A gentle rumble of distant thunder brought her attention to the weather, a thick blanket of grey clouds covering the sky and making it impossible to tell the time as a summer rainstorm approached.

"It always surprises me how quickly you recover." Elder Katsu chuckled softly as she looked up at Kiyomiko as she slowly stood. "You've been asleep for two days."

"Two days?" Kiyomiko's eyes widened and she almost stumbled backwards in shock. She'd missed two whole days of training? "Why didn't you wake me sooner? I thought you said I could rest when we were done!"

"Relax, child. Rest is also part of the training." Elder Katsu said with a studious tone and Kiyomiko held her tongue. "Anyway, you'd best head back to the village now. Your friend Jiraiya stopped by, looking for you. I told him I would send you on your way when you woke."

"Jiraiya..? Ungh.." Kiyomiko plopped onto her behind and buried her face in her hands. If Jiraiya had been here, he must have seen her training, or at least seen the results of her training as Kiyomiko was unconscious. That man was such a pain in the ass sometimes! "This is going to be a nightmare to explain. What time is it?"

"Just after dawn, why?" Elder Katsu quirked a brow with a puzzled expression as Kiyomiko sighed and got to her feet again, dusting herself off. Another rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, this time closer as the wind began to pick up, signalling the storm was approaching fast.

"I've been missing for six days then. I should probably head back before Naruto has a panic attack because I've been gone." Kiyomiko explained, walking over to the lake and splashing a few handfuls of water on her face. "I've never been away from my team for so long without letting them know where I am first."

After saying their goodbyes, Elder Katsu disappeared in a small cloud of smoke and Kiyomiko set off towards the scent of the village. The wind was getting stronger and Kiyomiko picked up the pace, smelling the approaching rain. If she didn't hurry, she'd get soaked. Jumping into a tree, Kiyomiko leapt from branch to branch until she was speeding along towards the village through the dark forest, lightning flashing every so often.

"_It's not too late to change your mind and turn back._" Yuki's voice whispered in Kiyomiko's mind and she sighed, feeling his cool presence within her.

"_You know I can't turn back, even if I were to be presented with an opportunity._" Kiyomiko answered mentally, jumping through the forest as the town came into view. "_I won't run away anymore. I can't._"

Yuki remained silent as Kiyomiko dropped from the trees just outside the town, slowing her pace as she walked down the dirt roads towards the hotel where her teacher and teammate had been staying. There was a strange energy in the air and Kiyomiko sighed, feeling that same familiar sensation she got every time she was about to enter a difficult battle. The town was oddly quiet as people ran into houses, hid under awnings and clutched umbrellas to stay dry from the impending rain, but something else was different.. Something was wrong.

Somewhere in this town, she could sense Jiraiya's chakra but it was faint and uneven, as if something had disrupted it. Narrowing her pupil-less silver eyes, Kiyomiko picked up the pace, jogging down the dirt roads as she followed Jiraiya's scent. It led her back to the hotel and she stopped in her tracks when she found him. He was on a rooftop, crawling towards the window of the hotel room where they had been staying, his breathing labored. He'd come back to the hotel room drunk many times before, but this was different. He didn't wreak of sake this time.. He'd been drugged.

Her mind slamming into gear, Kiyomiko searched for Tsunade's scent on the wind as Shizune threw open the window. She knew that Jiraiya would be fine with Shizune and Kiyomiko had somewhere to be. Using her full strength, Kiyomiko jumped up onto a rooftop and took off towards Tsunade's scent, ignoring the startled shouts of Jiraiya, Shizune and Naruto. There was faint traces of chakra on the wind and Kiyomiko ran towards it, Tsunade's scent coming from the same direction.

The village seemed to pass her by in a blur as the scent of a familiar chakra grew stronger with each step she took, Kiyomiko's sharingan activating almost reflexively as her mind registered that the chakra belonged to her father. Kiyomiko's body ached but she pressed on, running past the ruins of the castle that had been destroyed just one week ago, following the path of destruction as it led her away from town towards a huge grassy field.

There were three figures in the distance and a nearly inaudible growl escaped from Kiyomiko's lips, the air around her becoming cold as she ran faster and faster still, a thin layer of frost beginning to form on her skin. Closer now, she could make out the features of Tsunade, Kabuto and her father. Orochimaru was standing a short distance away as Kabuto and Tsunade battled, but Tsunade stood still, facing Kabuto with wide eyes as he lunged towards her wielding a scalpel made out of chakra. He was going to kill her!

All of a sudden, Kiyomiko appeared between Kabuto and Tsunade, holding her arm up to block Kabuto's attack with her ice armor, a loud _clang_ echoing through the air. A few moments of silence passed as Kiyomiko locked eyes with Kabuto, her eyes showing her sharingan as she snarled at him, Tsunade stumbling back a few paces in surprise. Kabuto's eyes widened when he realized what had just happened, staring down an almost feral-looking girl that looked so much like his master, his chakra scalpel flickering for an instant.

"Yo.. Kabuto.. Long time no see." Kiyomiko growled, her eyes narrowing as she took hold of his wrist, clamping down on it with her ice-covered digits and holding him tight as ice began to form, crawling down his wrist. "You look like you could use a nap!"

Without another word, Kiyomiko pulled back her fist and launched it at Kabuto's forehead protector, releasing his wrist at the last second as he went flying backwards. A crystalline clang resonated through the air around her as Kabuto skipped along the grass-covered soil like a skipping stone across water until he hit his back against a boulder. His glasses and forehead protector were cracked and blood was oozing down his face as Kiyomiko lowered her hands to her sides, turning to look at her father.

"Kiyomiko.. Now this is quite a pleasant surprise. You've almost mastered the elemental chakra within you, haven't you?" Orochimaru smirked and Kiyomiko's hands balled into fists, his voice causing her skin to crawl. "It's almost a shame that you still won't survive a battle with me, even if I am in this deplorable state."

"I never had any intention of surviving it, Father." Kiyomiko growled, crouching down and placing a hand on the soil, ice slowly beginning to crawl across the ground. Kiyomiko could feel Tsunade behind her, stunned at what she was witnessing as lightning flashed and thunder rolled across the sky, the ice slowly taking over a large portion of the field. Half-turning her head, Kiyomiko glanced back at Tsunade, her sharingan seeing the slightest tremble of the older woman's body. "Ne, Tsunade.. Need me to buy you some time so you can heal?"

"Kiyomiko..! What are you doing here?" Tsunade looked angry for a split second before her mind registered the eyes that were staring back at her. Sharingan! What in the world was going on? Tsunade's eyes widened as she looked between Kiyomiko and Orochimaru and she paled.

"I see you're beginning to understand, Tsunade." Orochimaru chuckled, his yellow eyes glittering with malice. "Kiyomiko is not my daughter. It's true that she has my blood flowing in her veins, but she is not my child. She is a genetic experiment, created from my own DNA and enhanced with the genetics of others. Unfortunately, she is just an unsuccessful attempt, a failed prototype that I raised and trained for my own amusement."

By this time, Kabuto had healed himself and was getting to his feet, his eyes widening at his master's words when he looked at the frail girl that had sent him flying. Kiyomiko's expression was hidden by her hair as she crouched down, the temperature around her plummetting to well below freezing in the space of a few seconds while whisps of pale white-blue chakra began to form around her. Orochimaru chuckled again, his lips curling into a malicious grin as he watched Kiyomiko's growing fury with mild interest. Ice began to form around Kiyomiko's body in jagged spikes as a low, rumbling growl mingled with the rolling thunder.

"Kiyomiko, no!" Kiyomiko barely registered Tsunade's voice behind her, feeling Yuki's icy chakra flowing through her body as she slowly stood, looking up at her father with deadly eyes. Razor sharp claws of ice formed around each finger and a searing pain began coursing through Kiyomiko's body, radiating from the curse mark on her neck. Still, she showed no signs of that pain.

"Interesting.." Orochimaru grinned, looking down at the girl that stood before him. Just when Orochimaru had expected Kiyomiko to activate her curse mark, a swirling blue design formed around it, glowing beneath the ice. It was a seal, a tattoo made of chakra that moved across her skin, surrounding the curse mark completely.

"_Kiyomiko, be careful._" Strange words echoed on the wind around Kiyomiko and Tsunade's eyes widened. In the presence of so much raw chakra, Tsunade was able to _feel_ a second chakra, not coming from around Kiyomiko but from within her. She had something sealed inside her, just like Naruto.

"Don't worry, Yuki.." Kiyomiko whispered, her voice rough like a low growl as she lowered, preparing to charge at her father, Kabuto taking a position in front of Orochimaru to defend him. "I'll set you free when I kill this bastard."

In a fraction of a second, Kiyomiko remembered every move that she had seen Kabuto use during the chunin exams and as she charged at him, she brought her ice claws up to defend against every attack, dealing attacks of her own to every blind spot and unguarded area she found. Kabuto attempted to withdraw from even the slightest of Kiyomiko's touches as ice began to form wherever her skin met his, gradually slowing him down, but Kiyomiko was fast, chakra infusing and enhancing her every movement.

"Kabuto, stop fooling around." Orochimaru chuckled darkly, watching as Kabuto was knocked backwards a few feet, skidding to a halt in front of his master. "I think it's time we put _that_ to the test."

"Are you sure that something like that will work?" Kabuto's eyes narrowed at Kiyomiko, a flicker of doubt in his voice as he fought to control his shivering body, ice beginning to melt against his skin. He was pale and his lips were beginning to turn blue, the beginning signs of hypothermia. Kiyomiko quickly brought her hands up to form seals, intending to end the battle with one final jutsu.

"Positive." Orochimaru answered and Kabuto nodded, his eyes turning to a cool determination as he slid a kunai from the pouch on his hip. Just as Kiyomiko was about to form the last seal, Kabuto slashed his right palm with the kunai and quickly formed a seal with his bloody hands. Kiyomiko's body froze instantly. What the hell was that? He was forming a diamond with his thumbs and index fingers, the rest of his fingers knit together against his chest. Blood dripped down his fingers and coated his hands and Tsunade looked like she was completely terrified of it. "You see? Neither of them can move!"

Orochimaru was right. Tsunade was frozen still due to her fear of blood and Kiyomiko couldn't move either, not for lack of trying. A deceptively sweet smile appeared on Kabuto's face as Kiyomiko's eyes widened. It was like she was frozen in time, her limbs heavy as if they were locked in concrete. She couldn't move! She was just standing there, forming the last seal for her technique, but she couldn't finish it.

"Release!" Kabuto's voice echoed across the field and almost instantly, a flood of white-blue chakra tore away from Kiyomiko's body, evaporating into the atmosphere as the ice that coated her body and her surroundings shattered into pieces too small to see. Kiyomiko felt faint, her chakra and Yuki's chakra completely drained, vented as if it had been smoke out an open window. She was useless now.. Kiyomiko's sharingan deactivated and Orochimaru chuckled at her fear-filled expression.

"Tsunade! Kiyomiko!" Jiraiya's voice sounded from somewhere nearby but Kiyomiko couldn't see where, her body still frozen in place as Orochimaru and Kabuto looked somewhere behind her. All of a sudden, a smoke bomb was thrown between Kiyomiko and Kabuto, startling Kabuto enough that he broke the seal to defend himself. Kiyomiko's body went limp before she felt a pair of arms grab her and pull her backwards out of the smoke. "Tsunade! Snap out of it! What happened?"

"Kiyo-chan? What's wrong?" Kiyomiko heard Naruto's voice behind her as she was dragged backwards and laid down on the cold, wet earth. She struggled to stay conscious, but without any chakra at all, she was a sitting duck, unable to fight or even move. Naruto looked down at her with wide blue eyes and she looked back up at him before her eyesight blurred. The last thing Kiyomiko saw was Naruto's eyes bleed red as the Kyubi's chakra leaked out of him.


	14. Homecoming Troubles

The full moon rose high over Konoha as Shikamaru sat on his bed, looking down at a book in his lap, his eyes scanning the pages but not really absorbing any of the information. It had been almost two months since Kiyomiko left and they hadn't heard any word about her whereabouts or wellbeing since she sent the gifts for everyone nearly a month ago. Summer would be over soon and a growing sensation of worry gnawed at Shikamaru's insides. She had said in her letter that she would keep writing, sending more letters whenever she could, but there hadn't been a single letter yet.

Leaning his head back against the wall, Shikamaru sighed. Why was he so worried about her? He knew that Kiyomiko could take care of herself, he saw that first hand during the third exam when she took down Dozu in a matter of minutes. Why, then, did he feel like something was wrong? Just as Shikamaru was about to close his eyes, a loud pop came from somewhere near the back of the house, startling him for a second.

That sound came from Kiyomiko's room! Jumping up out of bed, Shikamaru jogged towards the back of the house, down a series of darkened hallways until he opened the sliding door to her room with a soft snap. The room was dark, exactly as he'd left it except the scroll his mother had given to Kiyomiko was sitting on a long wooden table near the closet. There were no bags sitting on it now, instead Shikamaru could faintly make out the outlines of an envelope, laying over one of the painted seals.

Walking over to the table, Shikamaru picked up the envelope and his eyes widened when he saw the writing on the front. It was messy and masculine, not Kiyomiko's usually delicate and flowing handwriting. It was addressed to his father. Envelope in hand, Shikamaru left the room and made a beeline for his parents' bedroom, a strange chill in the air when he came to a stop in front of the door. His father had just returned from a mission earlier that evening, so he shouldn't be asleep yet.

"Dad.. Something just came for you." Shikamaru said from the hallway, raising a hand to knock on the door. The door slid open before Shikamaru could knock, revealing his sleepy-looking father in casual clothing. Shikamaru handed him the envelope and his father took it, turning away as he opened the heavy parchment.

"Shikamaru.. I need you to go to the hospital and wait for me out front." His father said quietly, as not to wake his sleeping wife. His voice and his expression were grim when he turned to look down at his son, the letter unfolded in his hand.

"Did something happen?" Shikamaru asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. His father just waved him off as he turned and shut the door, leaving Shikamaru out in the hall while his father prepared to leave.

Hurrying to his bedroom, Shikamaru quickly dressed and gathered up a simple pack before he met his father near the front door. Together, the two Nara's left their family home and set out in different directions. Shikamaru heading towards the hospital as his father had instructed and his father heading towards the village's main gate. The air was humid but strangely cool for this time of year, the moon casting deep shadows as it rose higher in the sky.

When he reached the hospital, a few lights were on inside, indicating that someone had stayed after hours. Sitting down on a bench near the door, Shikamaru waited, his mind running through possible situations that would warrant his presence at the hospital, each one worse than the last. As the minutes passed, Shikamaru sighed and rested his chin in his hands, looking down the dirt road that led through the village. If his father had gone to the main gate, he'd be walking up that path any minute now.

Just as he finished that thought, a group of shadows appeared, moving slowly towards the hospital. Shikamaru stood and shoved his hands into his pockets, watching as the figures moved ever closer. Soon, he could make out the features of his father, Naruto, two women and an older man carrying something on his back. But, if Naruto was there, where was Kiyomiko? A head of long black hair was draped over the older man's shoulder, gently swaying with the man's movements as the group walked closer and Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly. He was carrying Kiyomiko.

"Kiyo-chan!" Shikamaru gaped, walking over to the group with wide eyes. Before he could ask what had happened, a group of medics appeared from the hospital behind him and rushed the group inside, a whirlwind of activity nearly making Shikamaru dizzy. Kiyomiko looked pale and thin in the harsh flourescent lights that lined the hospital, dark shadows around her eyes and her features sunken as if she hadn't eaten in days. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow, her lips and the tips of her fingers tinted blue.

The group was taken into the hospital and led to the Emergency Care wing. Kiyomiko was taken out of sight into a room that Shikamaru could not enter, one of the women and the older man walking into the room behind the medical team. Shikamaru was left in a waiting room along with Naruto and another woman that he didn't recognize, her expression just as grim as Naruto's. Shikamaru's father took the young woman aside and the two began speaking quietly, away from Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Naruto.. What happened..?" Shikamaru asked, walking to stand in front of his classmate as the silent boy sat down in one of the chairs. It was strange, seeing him so quiet. He looked pale and exhausted, dark bags forming under his eyes and his clothes were a mess, tattered and torn in places. "What's wrong with Kiyo-chan?"

"Shikamaru.. Let him rest." Shikamaru's father spoke up, resting a hand on his son's shoulder with an expression that forbid any arguements. "Naruto and the others returned as quickly as they could. They didn't even stop to rest for more than a few hours. They're all exhausted."

Frowning slightly, Shikamaru nodded and sat down in one of the wooden chairs that lined the room, and there he waited in silence. The moon set and the sun began to rise as Shikamaru waited, passing the hours deep in thought as people milled around him. A few doctors came for Naruto, taking him into an examination room to treat his wounds and he returned shortly after, sitting down in the same chair he had been sitting in before, right next to the doors of the room Kiyomiko was in.

Around noon, more people showed up, all of them asking for information about Kiyomiko and recieving none as they sat down in the waiting room. Soon, the small room was filled with people, sitting and standing as they waited for any word. Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Neji, Tenten, Chouji, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru.. Even Lee left his room in the hospital to be there, against his doctor's advice. It would seem that word of Kiyomiko's return had spread like wildfire among the village and dozens of people showed up, fearing the worst. Shikamaru just sat in the wooden chair with his arms folded over his chest as he waited, both he and Naruto silent as they stared at the swinging doors.

Just after three o'clock, the blonde woman from earlier stepped through the doors and walked into the waiting room with an exhausted expression, her eyes scanning the room filled with worried people. With an exhaspirated sigh, the woman folded her arms across her chest and came to a stop just inside the door as everyone stood and looked at her with varying expressions of expectancy and confusion.

"Kiyomiko will be fine." The woman said, her voice carrying throughout the room. There was a collective sigh of relief as a few people sat down, Sakura and Hinata wiping tears from their eyes. "She's not out of the woods yet, though. She was very close to death due to severe chakra exhaustion. She's been put in isolation until her body recovers completely. No one is allowed in until I see some improvement in her situation."

"Wait a second.." Sakura spoke up, standing and looking at the blonde woman with an expression of confusion. "Severe chakra exhaustion only occurs when someone has used up all of their chakra. Kiyo-chan has more chakra than all of us in this room put together! What happened out there to make her use up all of her chakra and risk death like this?"

"I'm sorry, but that's all I can say right now." The woman sighed, turning back towards the swinging doors to Kiyomiko's room. "I'm afraid no one will be allowed in to see her for a long while. It'd be best if you all went home."

Without another word, the blonde woman disappeared behind the doors and a heavy silence hung on the air in the waiting room as people began to process the woman's words. Shikamaru frowned and slowly stood, shoving his hands into his pockets as he turned to leave. He knew that he wouldn't get any more information here and if he couldn't see Kiyomiko, he'd have to find something else to do, keep himself occupied until she was well enough to see.

"Shikamaru, Chouji, where are you going?" Ino cried, watching as Shikamaru and Chouji started to leave the room. All eyes turned to look at Shikamaru and he sighed, turning back to look at his teammate.

"There's nothing we can do here." Shikamaru answered with a genuinely troubled frown, an expression that not many people had seen. "I'm going somewhere quiet to think."

Shikamaru left the room with Chouji in tow and soon everyone except for Naruto and Kiba left the room and followed after Shikamaru. The hospital staff watched the parade of genin leave the hospital with startled expressions, each of the children moving in the same direction as they walked down the street and disappeared around a corner.

-(o.O)-

The next day, Shikamaru stood on a rooftop of a building near the hospital, looking down at the window to Kiyomiko's room. He had been unable to gain any information from his stone-faced father and he still wasn't allowed to see Kiyomiko, choosing instead to take matters into his own hands. Behind him stood Neji, Hinata and Ino, all of them following his gaze to Kiyomiko's window.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Ino frowned, kneeling down beside her teammate. The day before, Shikamaru had discussed his plans with the other Konoha Rookies and all had agreed to help however they could. Soon after, they had come up with a plan to gain the information they needed. "I know that this is for Kiyo-chan, but we could get into serious trouble."

"Ino, I owe Kiyo-chan my life." Shikamaru sighed, catching the blonde girl by surprise. It wasn't something he had talked about with anyone but Kiyomiko and Chouji.. Even the two Hyugas' behind him seemed surprised. "Before we graduated the Academy, Kiyo-chan saved my life. She protected me and ended up getting hurt instead of me. I need to do what I can to repay that debt."

"Alright.." Ino sighed, turning to look up at Neji and Hinata beside her. Both of them nodded in agreement and Shikamaru stood, the small group jumping from the roof into the trees beside the hospital as silently as they could.

"Hinata, Neji, can you see any guards hiding around the hospital?" Shikamaru asked as the group came to a stop in a large tree in the middle of a courtyard, no more than a few dozen feet from Kiyomiko's window. Both Neji and Hinata activated their Byakugan and their sharp white eyes scanned their surroundings, the two of them working together in perfect sync.

"There's a man on the roof, sitting directly above Kiyo-chan's window." Hinata said, looking up at the man. Shikamaru followed her gaze to see a chunin sitting on the ledge, looking around sleepily as he stretched, a book in his hand.

"There's another guy sitting in the hall outside Kiyomiko's room." Neji spoke up, "He's pretending to be asleep."

"Alright, what about that blonde, Tsunade, or that brunette that follows her around?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't see either of them.. Hang on a second.." Hinata narrowed her eyes for a moment before she smiled. "The brunette woman from yesterday is walking down the hall towards Kiyo-chan's room!"

"Perfect!" Shikamaru smirked as the group jumped to another tree, a little closer to Kiyomiko's window, and hid within the lush leaves so they wouldn't be seen. Ino sat down on a thick branch in front of the window and Hinata stood beside her, her hands on the blonde's shoulder to steady her. Neji kept an eye out for anyone else who could interrupt and the group watched as the skinny brunette walked passed the guard and into Kiyomiko's room. "Ino, your turn!"

"Alright! Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino smirked and just as she finished her technique, her body slumped backwards into Hinata's waiting arms, the brunette woman suddenly stopping in her tracks, her eyes going wide for a moment. There was a few seconds of tense silence before the brunette woman suddenly grinned and flashed a thumbs-up towards the window, sliding the hospital door closed behind her.

"Okay, she's in." Shikamaru watched nervously as the brunette, now under Ino's control, quickly crossed the room and snagged Kiyomiko's medical chart from the foot of the bed. Her dark eyes lingered on Kiyomiko's unconsious form for a few seconds before she walked to the table nearby, grabbing a pad of paper and a pen from the drawer.

Shikamaru sat and watched in a tense silence as the brunette began writing furiously, copying the medical chart word for word as fast as she could. When she neared the end, she paused, her eyes widening slightly at something she had read, but she quickly started writing again, finishing the chart. When she was done, she put the original chart back at the foot of Kiyomiko's bed and tore off the few pages she'd copied, walking to the window and opening it as silently as she could.

"We have to hurry up! There's someone coming!" Neji hissed, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Ino!" Shikamaru jumped over to the window as quickly as he could, grabbing the pages from the brunette's outstretched hands. "Get back to your body! We gotta go!"

The brunette nodded numbly and then she took a few steps back, her eyes going wide as Shikamaru jumped back to the tree, pages in hand. Ino was back in her body and Hinata was helping her up as Shikamaru and Neji took off. Before anyone could stop them, the four Genin each took one of the pages and split up, disappearing as they ran through the village. They would meet up later, at the time and place that Shikamaru had specified beforehand, along with the rest of the Konoha Rookies to discuss the information they had collected.

-(o.O)-

Later that night, a large group of shadows appeared around a chainlink fence, each one of them jumping over it and disappearing into the dense forest behind it in groups of twos and threes. When all of the shadows had entered the forest, one shadow took the lead and the group moved deeper into the forest, following the river until they came to a waterfall. The lead shadow quickly jumped across the river and led the others behind the waterfall, into the small cave hidden behind the curtain of falling water.

Once everyone was inside, someone got a small campfire going and the group began sitting down around it, Chouji handing out snacks and bottles of water. Neji, Hinata and Ino all passed their pages forward to Shikamaru, who sat with this back against a wall, facing the cave's entrance. Neji, Hinata, Ino, Kiba and Akamaru, Chouji, Sakura, Tenten and Shino were all there, Shino and Kiba standing guard at the entrance of the cave as the others waited for Shikamaru to finish reading. Something about Ino's expression told the others that she already knew something was wrong.

"Ino.. Are you sure this is correct?" Shikamaru spoke up finally, all other voices quieting down as all eyes turned to look at the two genin.

"Yeah." Ino said quietly, a far cry from her normally candid, outspoken demeanor. "I copied it word for word. It's all there."

"That's what I was afraid of." Shikamaru sighed, setting the papers on the stone floor beside him and dropping his head into his hands uncerimoniously.

"Well? What does it say?" Kiba asked impatiently, Akamaru barking in agreement. Shikamaru was silent for a moment before he raised his head, his expression grim. Everyone in the cave fell silent and waited.

"It says that she does have severe chakra exhaustion. Test results show that there was very little chakra in her system when she was brought into the hospital, most of it had been given to her by Naruto. Her chakra was used up so quickly that her system was in shock for the better part of two days while Naruto and the others brought her back to Konoha. She also had a severe case of hypothermia. Her core temperature had dropped down to 55 degrees.." Shikamaru explained, lowering his eyes to look at the small fire. "She nearly died. And that's just what's written on the first page."

"Shikamaru.. Maybe we should-" Ino began but Shikamaru cut her off with a shake of his head. He had started this, he had brought everone together because they all cared for Kiyomiko. They needed to know what else was written in that medical report.

"The rest of it.. needs to stay between us. All of us. If you don't think you can support Kiyo-chan in every way, you should leave now before we continue." Shikamaru's eyes hardened, looking dark as he looked at each and every person in that cave. When everyone nodded in agreement, he continued. "The medical chart said that Tsunade had been doing a lot of blood tests on Kiyo-chan.. Much more than would be needed for chakra exhaustion and hypothermia.."

"The results were on the last page." Shikamaru sighed, looking down at the last page of Kiyomiko's copied medical chart. "It says that Kiyo-chan is related to Orochimaru.. The man who attacked Konoha during the Chunin Exams and killed the Third.. And it's not just him.. She has genes from multiple sources. The Uchiha clan being one of them and another clan I've never even heard of, the Amatsuki clan.."

"While I was there.." Ino whispered, her eyes blank and lifeless as she looked down at the small fire. "I saw that she had these scars on her neck.. I checked the medical chart. It has a long list of old injuries, scars and broken bones, as if she'd been nearly beaten to death and healed on a daily basis.. By all rights, she shouldn't even be standing.. "

"Those old wounds were probably caused by Orochimaru.. I remember she said that she didn't have a very good relationship with her father and I think it's pretty safe to assume why, now that we know who he is." Shikamaru sighed

"Wait, you're talking about the scars on her neck, right Ino?" Kiba spoke up, his arms folded across his chest as Akamaru sat on his head. "Because remember, during the second exam, Hinata, Shino and I found Kiyo-chan here in the forest, near dead.. She had some pretty bad bitemarks on her neck.."

"Yeah, I remember." Ino nodded, picking up a page and passing it to Kiba. "It says there that those wounds were caused by Orochimaru, that he left some kind of mark on her.. I don't know, I can't understand most of it."

"Does it say anything about the Hyuga clan?" Neji spoke up, his eyes hard as he looked at Shikamaru. "Her eyes look like ours, somewhat.. I've always suspected.."

"No, there's no mention of the Hyuga clan." Shikamaru answered, handing Neji the last page of the copied report. Neji took it and looked down at it, his eyes scanning over the messy words as Hinata looked over his shoulder. "The report says she's most closely related to Orochimaru at a 99.5 percent accuracy and the Uchiha clan, her DNA matching most closely with that of Uchiha Itachi with a 98.2 percent accuracy.. As well as someone named Aria from the Amatsuki clan. All other DNA markers were unknown, not in the hospital's records."

"So.. I don't think I'm quite understanding.." Sakura breathed, tears coming to her eyes. Shikamaru's expression was grim. "From what the chart says.. Is Kiyo-chan Orochimaru's daughter? Or Itachi's..?"

"No, Sakura. From what the chart says, she's not anyone's daughter." Neji spoke up, tossing the page away with an irritated sigh. "Kiyomiko is Orochimaru's clone, modified with the genetics of others. She's his creation. I'm not sure if she's even human."

As soon as Neji had finished his sentence, someone grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him up, shoving him back against the jagged walls of the cave. His eyes widened when he came face to face with a furious-looking Kiba. Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino were also glaring at him while everyone else looked stunned, not knowing what to do in a situation like this.

"Don't you ever say something like that about Kiyo-chan!" Kiba growled, his fist tightning in a white-knuckle grip on the front of Neji's shirt. "It doesn't matter who she's related to! All that matters is who _she_ is! And she's Kiyo-chan!"

"Kiba's right, Neji." Chouji spoke up, surprising everyone when he set aside his snacks and glared at Neji. "I heard my father talking with Ino's dad and Shikamaru's dad one night, after the attack on the village. They were talking about how it was Kiyo-chan who got rid of the giant three-headed snake before it reached the center of the village."

"I heard from some chunins that Kiyo-chan went to the Eastern Wall just as the invasion began.." Hinata said quietly, hugging her knees to her chest as she looked down at the fire. "She sent the chunins to the main gate, preventing it from being overrun, while she stayed behind and stopped a division of Sound shinobi from entering the village all by herself.."

"Kiba, let him go." Shikamaru sighed and stood, resting a hand on Kiba's shoulder. Kiba grumbled something and reluctantly loosened his grip on Neji, letting the boy drop to his feet. Shikamaru turned and looked at Neji, his expression hard. "Kiyo-chan has always been doing whatever she could to help the village. Isn't it only fair that we judge her by her actions instead of writing her off as a traitor just because she's related to one?"

"What are we going to tell Kiyo-chan when she wakes up?" Sakura asked, looking worried. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and Neji sat down at the fire again, their disagreement seemingly over now. "And what am I supposed to say to Naruto? And to Sasuke..?"

"We shouldn't say anything yet.. I doubt everyone else in the village would be so understanding." Shikamaru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, firelight causing shadows to dance across his face. "We should do what we can to make sure that Kiyo-chan wakes up. After she wakes up and things go back to normal again, we should talk to her, let her know that her secret is safe with us."

After a long and stressful night, the group left the cave and went their seperate ways, returning to the village and going home. Shikamaru opened the back door of his family home and let himself in, moving silently through the dark hallways as he approached his bedroom. He had always known that Kiyomiko had secrets, and lots of them. He wasn't as surprised by the news of her genetics as he probably should have been and he could understand why she hadn't told anyone. Now, however, all he could do was hope that she would get better soon.

-(o.O)-

"_Kiyomiko.._"

Hm? Who's voice was that? Yuki?

"_Kiyomiko.. Open your eyes.._"

"Yuki?" Kiyomiko whispered, her throat dry and her voice rough, as if she hadn't spoken in a very long time. The scent of sterilizers and antiseptics assaulted her nose and Kiyomiko sighed. Why is it that she was almost getting used to waking up in a hospital? Opening her eyes slowly, Kiyomiko blinked the world into focus. She was in a large white room, laying on a bed with thin blankets covering her, early morning sunlight pouring into the window beside her bed. She was alone.

"_How are you feeling?_"

"_Like I've been run over and dropped off a cliff._" Kiyomiko sighed, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead, covering her eyes somewhat. "_Where am I and how long have I been unconscious?_"

"_You're in Konoha. I'm not sure how long it's been because there was a long time when I couldn't do anything._" Yuki explained, his voice soft in her mind as if he were whispering in her ear. "_We were both severely damaged during your battle. I had to wait until I regained some of my chakra so I could heal you._"

Images flashed through Kiyomiko's mind, memories of her battle with her father and Kabuto.. The last of which was the seal that Kabuto had made, some kind of jutsu that had completely incapacitated her and drained her and Yuki of their chakra in the blink of an eye. A faint growl of frustration rumbled from her sore throat but it quickly died down, replaced by a weak cough. She'd really screwed up this time, not only failing to kill her father and release Yuki from his prison within her, but getting herself so beat up that she landed in the hospital again. This was really getting annoying.

"_Don't be so hard on yourself._" Yuki whispered, a comforting presence stirring within Kiyomiko. "_Your father is much stronger than either of us anticipated and apparently, he's taught Kabuto a new jutsu._"

"_I can't help being hard on myself. I hate feeling like I'm not strong enough, like no matter what I do, it's never enough._" Kiyomiko's mood darkened as she forced herself into a sitting position, her stiff joints cracking and popping as her muscles screamed at her. If she didn't get moving now, she would be stuck here for weeks, if she hadn't already been stuck here for weeks. She needed to find someone who knew what was going on.

Moving as quickly as she dared, Kiyomiko dropped her legs over the edge of the bed and sat there for a moment while she unhooked herself from all sorts of machines and pulled out the needle for her IV. Her movements were slow and awkward but they got the job done. Carefully, Kiyomiko eased herself onto her feet and walked towards the adjescent bathroom. If she'd been in a hospital for as long as she feared, she must look pretty nasty right now.

After a near fall and a faceplant on the way to the bathroom, Kiyomiko finally made it into the next room and shut the door behind her, flipping on the light switch and shuffling over to the mirror. She'd been right. She looked ghastly. Her eyes were ringed with deep black circles like Gaara's, her features were sunken and angular and there was almost no color to her skin at all. She needed to eat but the very thought of food made her nauseas, which wasn't a good sign. Running through what little medical knowledge she had stored away, Kiyomiko assumed she'd been here for at least a week, maybe two. Kept alive by saline and liquid vitamins through her IV.

With a sigh, Kiyomiko went about the long and arduous process of cleaning herself up, stepping into the huge industrial shower and bathing herself while sitting down on the plastic bench made for people who had trouble standing. When she was done, she shuffled out of the shower and toweled off, yanking her now clean hair into submission by weaving it into a long braid that hung down to the base of her spine. Looking in the mirror now, she didn't look much better but at least she was clean. Wrapping the oversized towel around her, Kiyomiko grabbed the dirty hospital gown from the back of the door and tossed it into a laundry bin before she walked back out into her room.

"Good morning." Kiyomiko sighed audibly when she heard Tsunade's voice in the room and she turned, seeing the blonde woman sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, looking down at what was probably Kiyomiko's medical chart. "To answer the questions I'm sure you're going to ask, you've been here for three weeks. You've been unconscious the entire time and I didn't allow anyone in to visit you."

"Thank god for small favors." Kiyomiko chuckled as she turned and went rifling through the dresser, looking for her clothes. Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she watched the frail-looking girl basically disassemble the dresser before moving on to the standing wardrobe, finding it empty as well. "Where the hell is my stuff?"

"Your belongings were left with the Nara's for the time being." Tsunade said matter-of-factly and Kiyomiko turned slowly, her eyes narrowed as if she were a cornered animal. "I was told that you were staying with them."

"You don't plan on trying to _keep_ me here, do you?" Kiyomiko asked, her expression clearly showing suspicion and her body tensed as if she were going to bolt any second now. "Has Jiraiya told you how well trying to keep me in a hospital worked out for him?"

"Jiraiya wasn't as tough on you as I could be." Tsunade answered with a slight smirk, setting Kiyomiko's medical chart aside and folding her arms across her chest. Kiyomiko seemed to take that as a challenge and she matched Tsunade's smirk. It was a battle of wits between two stubborn females then. "Besides, you're not well enough to put up much of a fight, even if you're stronger than an average genin."

"Alright, you're obviously underestimating just how much I hate hospitals. The smell of the antiseptics alone puts me on edge." Kiyomiko smirked, folding her thin arms across her flat chest, her mind already running through possible escape routes. "So, either you get me some clothes or I walk outta here wearing the bedsheets."

"Oh? That'd be quite a sight to see!" Tsunade chuckled, not moving from the bed. "I'm sure you'd give some of the children quite a scare, wearing bedsheets like a ghost!"

"Alright then." Kiyomiko grinned, crossing the room and grabbing the top sheet from the bed with a remarkable amount of dexterity. Tsunade watched as Kiyomiko shed the oversized towel unabashedly and began wrapping the thin white sheet around her thin body like a sarong, securing the loose ends under her arms so it wouldn't slip off. It was amusing to Tsunade, that is until she saw Kiyomiko turn towards the door. "See ya."

Kiyomiko crossed the room and opened the door, padding out into the hallway without another word. Her bare feet were silent against the cold tile floors of the hospital and, just as Tsunade had suspected, Kiyomiko did kind of look like a ghost but that didn't bother her. With Tsunade walking a short distance behind her, Kiyomiko walked down the halls, navigating the hospital like a seasoned pro, ignoring the shocked and startled onlookers as the girl walked passed them, wearing nothing but a long white sheet wrapped around her. Soon, Shizune came into view and her jaw dropped when she saw Kiyomiko walking towards the door, Tsunade doing nothing to stop her.

"Tsunade-sama, you're just going to let her leave? She's not well enough to go home yet, and looking like that-!" Shizune gaped, her expression showing worry as Kiyomiko paused at the large glass doors for a moment.

"Don't worry, Shizune. Kiyomiko is a thirteen year old girl, she would rather be caught dead than walk outside wearing a sheet." Tsunade chuckled knowingly, assuming that Kiyomiko was like any other teenage girl. "See? She's stopped."

Just then, a polite smile appeared on Kiyomiko's face as she opened the door for an elderly woman in a wheelchair, holding it open until the woman had gotten safely inside. Now Tsunade and Shizune were beginning to wonder, but by then it was already too late. Kiyomiko walked outside wearing nothing more than the bedsheet, just as she had promised, stepping out into the morning sunlight and walking down the dirt road towards Shikamaru's house as if it were the most normal thing in the world. What Tsunade hadn't taken into account during this whole debacle was the fact that Kiyomiko had little to no shame and didn't really care what sort of normally compromising situations people saw her in.

-(o.O)-

Kiyomiko quickly found her way to Shikamaru's house without much trouble, keeping her feet on the ground so no one could see up her makeshift dress, even though it would have been faster to jump across rooftops and the like. Walking around behind the house, Kiyomiko quietly stepped onto the back porch and slid open the door to her room, listening for any signs of life within the house. There was nothing. It would seem that Shikamaru and his family were out for the day. Closing the sliding door behind her, Kiyomiko located her bags and opened them, digging around in them until her fingers brushed against fabric.

Pulling the fabric from the bags, she was surprised to find that her usual outfit was missing, replaced by something that Kiyomiko had never seen before. It smelled like a store and Yoshino.. Shikamaru's mother must have bought this for her with the money Kiyomiko had given her before she left. Without any hesitation, Kiyomiko tossed aside the sheet-turned-sarong and pulled on her new outfit.

When she was finished, Kiyomiko was wearing full-body fishnet, a pair of pale blue shorts that gathered just below her knees, a charcoal grey tunic with a pale blue silk sash that hugged her hips, ankle-high charcoal grey sandals and matching fingerless gloves. Yoshino had even gotten her a new forehead protector with matching pale blue fabric, which Kiyomiko tied around her neck, covering her scars and the curse mark. On a whim, Kiyomiko quickly pulled her hair into two, long braided pigtails that hung down her back and smoothed her messy bangs around her face, giving her a more youthful appearance and hiding some of the new shadowing on her cheeks.

Now that she was dressed, Kiyomiko swung her black canvas pack over her shoulder and left her room, wandering down the empty halls of the Nara family home towards the front of the house. It was a large place, built in a traditional style with shoji screens, white plaster walls and polished wooden floors. The scent of tobacco smoke and fresh bread wafted through the house as Kiyomiko reached the kitchen, smiling as she looked around. This place felt like a home, warm and full of sunshine. It was almost alien to Kiyomiko, who had never really known what a home felt like until now, leaving her with a strange feeling of lonliness as she looked around. It was as if she were seperated from everything around her, as if she could never achieve that feeling of truely belonging.

But, that wouldn't stop her from trying to make her friends happy. Pulling a small roll of cash from her pocket, Kiyomiko nodded to herself before she stepped out of the Nara's home and went about her errands. After walking around and scouring the marketplace for three hours, Kiyomiko returned to a still empty house and went straight for the kitchen, setting down an armful of bags as the noon-hour came and went. She didn't know when the Nara family would return but she was sure that she would be ready for them when they arrived. She would have a surprise waiting for them.

Getting straight to work, Kiyomiko quickly found everything she would need to prepare a feast, slicing up fresh vegetables, cooking up choice cuts of beef and boiling a large pot of rice. Yoshino probably wouldn't be too happy that another female had encroached on her territory but Kiyomiko hoped that once she tasted her cooking that she might not mind so much. Using clones to mind each of the pots, Kiyomiko stood at the island counter in the center of the kitchen, preparing the dessert. Skinning the summer fruits and removing the seeds, Kiyomiko cut the fruits into perfectly round balls, saving the skins and oddly-shaped pieces for later. Placing the balled fruits into four small bowls, Kiyomiko collected the scraps and mashed them all together into a near-puree, adding a small amount of honey and sugar and pouring the mixture over the fruit before she covered the bowls with plastic wrap and set them into the fridge.

By now, the sun was beginning to set and the meal was almost ready. Dismissing her clones, Kiyomiko set about dishing up the meal, making a bed of fresh rice on each plate before setting out a few cuts of meat and steamed vegetables on top, ladeling a small amount of sauce on top to give it a healthy glaze. She had already washed the dishes, set the table and laid out napkins, and just as she was setting the food on the table, Shikamaru, Yoshino and Shikaku's scents reached her nose. She could hear Shikamaru complaining down the street and she smirked, sneaking out of the dining room as the front door opened. Kiyomiko hid in a corner and waited silently, peering into the diningroom with a playful grin.

"It was certainly strange to find you at the library, Shikamaru." Shikaku mused as the family walked into the room, Yoshino looking around curiously as the scent of a delicious meal wafted through the house.

"Yeah, well I just felt like reading." Shikamaru drawled as he set down a large bag near the door, sounding heavy as it hit the floor.

"Shikamaru, Shikaku, were either of you home earlier?" Yoshino asked, seeing the diningroom light on.

"No.." Shikamaru mumbled, now following his mother's gaze. The family, now curious, walked into the diningroom, their eyes wide when they saw the feast set out on the table, a few candles lit in the center of the table.

"W-who..?" Yoshino was at a loss for words, as was Shikamaru, but Shikaku just chuckled and looked towards the doorway to the next room. Of course, Kiyomiko hadn't expected to hide from a Jonin for very long but it was amusing to see his brief surprise.

"Kiyomiko." Shikaku chuckled as he pointed towards the doorway. Yoshino and Shikamaru turned to see Kiyomiko leaning against the door frame with her arms folded over her chest, an impish smile on her face.

"What..? How..?" Shikamaru looked stunned for a few seconds before he just sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "I'm not even going to ask."

"Baka, do you really think Tsunade-bachan can hold me down for very long?" Kiyomiko grinned as she walked a few steps into the room, taking the family's bags from them and gesturing towards the table. "I woke up this morning."

"And.. how did you convince Tsunade to let you leave?" Yoshino asked, wide-eyed as she was sat down at the table with a large meal in front of her. Shikamaru and Shikaku sat down as well, noticing there were only three meals set out on the table, instead of four.

"I didn't convince her." Kiyomiko mused innocently, her tone almost thoughtful as she set the family's belongings on a long wooden table by the doorway. Shikaku nudged Shikamaru and pointed towards the doorway to the kitchen when Kiyomiko's back was turned, pointing out a modest meal set up on the island counter in the darkened room. "I escaped."

"So, those rumors I heard about a young girl leaving the hospital wearing only a bedsheet-" Shikaku began, looking down at his meal absent-mindedly. Kiyomiko froze mid-step as she was walking into the kitchen, hearing Yoshino gasp. She could feel all eyes turn to look at her.

"_Totally_ have no idea what you're talking about!" Kiyomiko laughed innocently, putting on her sweetest, most clueless expression as she looked back with a smile. She would have to return that sheet in her room as soon as possible. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head and Shikaku let the topic drop as he gestured for his wife to eat. "There's dessert in the fridge when you're ready for it. The left-overs have already been packed away and you can just leave the dishes on the counter, I'll wash them when you're finished."

Taking this opportunity, Kiyomiko slipped away before anyone could stop her, grabbing the small meal from the island counter and sneaking outside to the back porch. She didn't want to invade on the family's territory during their mealtimes, so she sat down on the back porch and stared down at the meal she had made with a blank expression. She still didn't feel like eating at all, despite the wonderful scent that filled her nose. Ugh. It would probably make her sick, but whatever. Cutting up the meat and vegetables into miniscule pieces, Kiyomiko began to eat slowly, taking her time as she watched the flickering fireflies in the woods behind the Nara house.

-(o.O)-

About an hour later, the sun had set completely and Kiyomiko had only finished about half of her meal when she heard someone walking up behind her. Turning her head to glance into the dark hallway, she saw Shikaku walk out onto the back porch with a cigarette in his hand, his fatherly expression half-masked in shadow. As he sat down on the porch a short distance away, Kiyomiko sighed and tried to eat another spoonful of rice, forcing it down with as little fuss as possible. It had been a while since she'd had to force herself to eat.

"Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, contacted me early this afternoon to notify me that you had left the hospital." Shikaku began, bringing the cigarette up to his lips and lighting it, taking a deep drag before he exhaled the smoke away from the house. "Against her wishes, but she did admit that you had surprised her when you left the way you did."

"I can't stay in one place for very long." Kiyomiko admitted, seeing no reason to lie to the man that had allowed her into his home. "Especially not hospitals. My nose is really sensitive, so hospitals drive me crazy with all the antiseptics and detergents. Plus, hospitals are just really creepy to me.. "

"Bad memories?" Shikaku asked and Kiyomiko paused for a moment, not sure whether she should be _that_ honest with the man. But after a few moments of silence, Kiyomiko nodded, avoiding the man's gaze as she set her half-eaten meal beside her and hugged her knees to her chest. "I'm sure that Tsunade would understand if you told her your reasoning. She could probably find a more suitable place to treat you."

"Maybe.." Kiyomiko sighed, resting her chin on her knees as she watched a firefly lazily float through the trees a few feet away. There was a long silence between the two as Shikaku smoked his cigarette, watching the last fireflies of the season with Kiyomiko, her expression distant and cool. She looked cold and detached, as if the warmth of the summer night couldn't reach her, like a single ray of moonlight in a sky filled with clouds. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves and the fireflies were carried away, lifted up into the sky as they twinkled like stars for a moment before they drifted out of sight, leaving only darkness in their place.

"So.. I heard you saw your father."

"Mn.." Kiyomiko nodded slightly, lowering her pupil-less silver eyes to look at the neatly trimmed grass. Shikaku watched her every move from the corner of his eye, almost as if he were studying her. "Though.. he's not really my father.. I guess I always at least _suspected_, but I never really wanted to face the fact that I might not be..."

"Might not be what?" Shikaku asked calmly, watching as the girl beside him closed her eyes and hugged her knees a little tighter against her chest, her face a crystalline mask of calm. A thick cloudbank covered the full moon and blanketted the world in shadow, that cool light disappearing from Kiyomiko's face.

"Human." Kiyomiko sighed, her eyes closed as she listened to the sounds of the night. "I don't think I'm human.. I mean, not really. I didn't want to face the fact that I wasn't born, I was created. I'm.. a thing. A tool to serve a purpose, except I've spent the last few years of my life fighting _against_ the purpose I was created for. Now.. I just feel lost, like I don't know what to do with myself. I have no purpose."

"What do you want your purpose to be?" Shikaku asked, exhaling a small cloud of smoke from his cigarette. There was silence between them for a few moments before Kiyomiko opened her eyes and looked up at the moon just in time for the clouds to part, her silver eyes reflecting the light and almost glowing from within. "You have a choice."

"I've never had a choice before. I guess I always just expected that the Third would find out who I was and use me as a weapon against my father. Find out _what_ I was." Kiyomiko answered softly, still looking up at the moon. "This village is so strange.."

"How so?" Shikaku mused, looking at the girl from the corner of his eye, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"When I first came here, I told the Third that I was trying to escape from my father.." Kiyomiko said, finally lowering her eyes somewhat. "This village is strange because the Third allowed me to stay, even though he probably at least _suspected_ that I had a hidden agenda.. I mean, everyone else in this world has one, why would I be any different?"

"And what was that hidden agenda?" Shikaku asked, hearing the sound of Yoshino in the kitchen washing dishes, Shikamaru walking down the hall towards his bedroom. Kiyomiko lowered her eyes to stare at the ground again, her face still just as expressionless as it had been since the man sat down beside her.

"It's been the same in every village I've visited since I escaped my father almost six years ago.. To get stronger. To learn new techniques so that I might finally be able to kill my fa-Orochimaru.." Kiyomiko admitted, no longer caring about secrecy. Why should it be a secret anyway? Everyone, deep down, aspires to be powerful. "In the last battle, I never even got the chance to fight him. I was so powerless against one of his _lackeys_ that I nearly died.. Again."

"Well, maybe the problem isn't that you lack knowledge." Shikaku mused quietly, almost as if he were talking to himself. Kiyomiko looked at him out of the corner of her eye, a flicker of curiousity in her expression. "Maybe you have the knowledge you need, you just have to put it to use. Practice with different people, find ways to better yourself while helping them do the same."

"That's pretty much impossible." Kiyomiko sighed, her expression returning to it's cool emotionless state. "You know what I am. If I practiced with others, I would never be able to use my full strength or all of my abilities without raising a lot of questions. I have to keep too many secrets to practice my training with others. If the village found out, they'd stick me in a cell and throw away the key. And that's _if_ they didn't decide to just kill me outright for being related to two, if not more, traitors of Konoha."

"I think you'd be surprised." Shikaku sighed slightly as he put out the remains of his cigarette on a nearby stone and set the cigarette butt in an empty flower pot. "You should try talking to those closest to you, your friends. I think you'll find that they may be more receptive to the idea than you think."

With that, Shikaku stood and walked back into the house, leaving Kiyomiko to watch his retreating back with narrowed eyes. Did he know something? Well, of course he knew something, a man like him usually knows just about everything. It was just a question of reading between the lines and deciphering what he _wasn't_ saying. Sure, no problem..

-(o.O)-

Kiyomiko sighed softly as she walked into the room that the Nara's had let her stay in, walking over to the closet and pulling the new futon from the shelf, laying the thick mattress on the tatami-mat floor. It would be strange sleeping here among other people, but Kiyomiko would make due. Opening the sliding door to the backyard, Kiyomiko blew out the candles around the room and slipped into her thin white yukata, pulling the braids from her hair so that it hung loose down her back and shoulders like a curtain of ink-black silk. A gentle breeze filtered through the room, bringing with it the scent of the forest and ripe summer fruits. Someone was burning a floral incense nearby and Kiyomiko could hear the gentle twinking of a wind chime in the distance. This place was so peaceful.

Almost absent-mindedly, Kiyomiko took her fan from her black canvas pack before she walked over to the futon near the open door, sitting down on the mattress and slipping the fan into her sleeve. It was cool and heavy against her skin, it's weight comforting as she gingerly laid down, her hair pooling around her head like a puddle of ink. Deep down, she half-expected that Shikaku and his wife would change their minds about letting her stay in their home, choosing instead to kick her out in the middle of the night. Well, regardless, she would try to get as much sleep as she could since she was technically still recovering.

This would be the first night that she slept in this house and she hoped that her nightmares wouldn't wake the Nara's, silently pleading with Yuki to keep her quiet somehow if she were to get too loud. Gradually, Kiyomiko allowed her eyes to close and her breathing deepened into a steady rhythm, her hands curled around her throat protectively. Slowly, Kiyomiko drifted off to sleep, unconsciously rolling onto her side and making herself as small as possible by hugging her knees to her chest. She stayed silent for a few hours before a cold sweat formed across her skin and a few fearful whimpers escaped her lips in her sleep. She didn't even notice the door to the hallway slowly slide open.

"Kiyo-chan?"

Reflexively, Kiyomiko flinched and she jerked awake, her sharingan activating on it's own as she scurried back to the closest wall, her eyes wide and fearful. It took a few moments for Kiyomiko's mind to process what her eyes were seeing but when it did, the fear didn't go away, instead it just changed to a different fear. It wasn't the fear of her father from her nightmare, it was the fear that one of her friends had found out one of her many secrets. There, in the doorway, stood a startled Shikamaru in his pajamas, his eyes wide as he looked down at her.

"Kiyo-chan.. It's just me.." Shikamaru closed the door behind him and walked a few steps into the room before he knelt down a few feet in front of her, his voice quiet as if he were talking to a startled animal or a frightened child. His brows were knit together in an expression of worry and genuine concern as he sat down, his hands held up in a reassuring manner. "You don't have to be afraid of me.."

Kiyomiko couldn't believe what her eyes were telling her, what her sharingan was seeing. Shikamaru had seemed startled at first but now, he didn't seem the slightest bit surprised as he stared down the frail-looking girl with her sharingan staring back at him. She had never told any of her friends or classmates about her sharingan.. Not even Naruto knew.. So why was Shikamaru so calm?

"Shikamaru.. Why are you here?" Kiyomiko asked dumbly, her voice weak and trembling as she unconsciously took in every detail, her deep red eyes glowing in the darkness as they recorded everything. Her back was still pressed against the thick plaster wall behind her but her posture had relaxed a little, her hand letting go of the fan in her sleeve but she still had one hand curled around her throat, covering her neck.

"I came down to get a drink of water.." Shikamaru sighed, lowering his hands to his lap, his expression falling slightly. "I heard a noise and came to check on you. I was worried that you might not be fully recovered from.. Anyway, I was worried.."

"You know something.." Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed slightly, a slight flicker of understanding forming in her eyes. Shikamaru lowered his head slightly before he nodded almost reluctantly, avoiding her gaze as if he'd done something wrong. "What is it?"

"When you came back to Konoha.. Everyone was worried about you. I was worried about you." Shikamaru began, his voice little more than a whisper, acting strangely serious. "No one would tell us anything about what had happened, or how you were.. So.. We all got together and worked out a plan to get a copy of your medical chart.."

Kiyomiko's eyes widened as a trickle of fear formed in her core, her heart beginning to ache. He knew.. He knew! And if he knew, then how many other people knew? Shikamaru was sitting in front of her, trying to word his next sentence, trying to tell her that he knew everything about her as Kiyomiko's sharingan recorded his every movement. She didn't want to hear what he was saying, but her sharingan gave her no choice, memorizing his every word with a terrifying detail.

"We read it.. All of us.. Me, Ino, Chouji, Kiba and Akamaru, Hinata and Neji, Sakura, Tenten and Shino.. Everyone was there, except for Sasuke, Lee and Naruto.. They were all still at the hospital." Shikamaru spoke quietly, looking up at Kiyomiko with a worried expression, something she had only rarely seen from him. "We know.. about how you're related to Orochimaru.. and to the Uchiha clan.. But you should know that we all swore to keep your secret.."

"W-why..? Why would you do something like that?" Kiyomiko asked shakily, her body trembling slightly. Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly as if that had been a reaction he hadn't expected, looking down at the frail-looking girl that had so boldly saved his life the first day he met her, who always had a witty comeback, who always had a brave face.. She was terrified! "If you know all that, then why don't you look afraid?"

"Because I'm not afraid.." Shikamaru answered honestly, Kiyomiko's sharingan telling her that he spoke truthfully. He really wasn't afraid of her.. "I'm not afraid _of_ you, I'm afraid _for_ you.. That's why I want you to know that I burned the copy of your medical chart, the same night we all found out. We all swore that night that no one else would find out what we learned. We're all you're friends, Kiyo-chan.. I won't ask you to trust us, but I do ask that you at least give us a chance to prove ourselves.. Give _me_ a chance.."

As he spoke, Shikamaru reached out and gently placed his hand over Kiyomiko's as it held her throat protectively. Instinctually, she flinched and her eyes widened but he didn't pull away, instead he just lightly rested his hand over hers, a knowing expression in his eyes as his fingers moved over the left side of her neck, where her scars were hidden. His hand was so warm and he seemed surprised by how cold she was, that flicker of worry returning to his eyes as he looked at her. Gradually, she turned her gaze to look him in the eye and he looked back down at her, his eyes showing his unwavering resolve to prove himself even in the face of Kiyomiko's true form, her sharingan.

Was all of this just some sort of dream? Was Shikamaru really sitting there, telling her that he knew what she was and that he still accepted her in spite of it? She couldn't bring herself to hope that it was real but nevertheless, her eyes told her that it was all true. He knew what she was and yet he still wanted to be her friend.. He still held her hand and he didn't recoil when she looked at him. Gradually, Shikamaru drew Kiyomiko into his arms and she allowed it, resting her head against his chest as they sat in silence for the rest of the night.


	15. Strength In Numbers

Kiyomiko woke early the next morning, after only getting maybe two hours of sleep after Shikamaru had gone back to bed. For a few moments, she looked at the rays of light streaming in through the window and she wondered if last night had all been some sort of crazy dream, but his scent was still in the room, assuring her that it had really happened. Shikamaru and the others knew what Kiyomiko was.. And now she needed to explain herself.

After she had bathed and dressed as quickly as possible, Kiyomiko returned to her room and opened her pack, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, tearing a few sheets of paper into smaller pieces, the size of small cards. On each piece, she wrote a short message. _Meet up at the same place as last time. Tonight._ Stowing the cards in her pocket, Kiyomiko put away her things and slipped her black canvas pack over her shoulder, walking through the darkened halls of the Nara house to Shikamaru's bedroom. Slipping one of the cards under his bedroom door, she knew he would understand and she turned to leave the house, walking out into the early morning mist.

First, she went to Chouji's house, hopping up onto the windowsill of Chouji's bedroom. He was still sound asleep, laying in bed with the blankets over his head. Carefully, she slid his window open and eased her way into his room, stepping over snack wrappers and magazines as she left the note on the pillow, next to his head. Her job done, Kiyomiko left his room, leaving the window open so he would know that someone had been there when he woke. Jumping from the roof, Kiyomiko disappeared down the path, walking towards her next destination.

The Hyuga compound sprawled out before her as she stood on the branch of a tree, looking over the high stone walls at the house of the branch family, located near the back corner of the compound. The morning sun was beginning to burn away the mist but Kiyomiko still had quite a bit of cover as she waited, her eyes locked on the door where Neji's scent was coming from. She didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, the door slid open and Neji appeared, leaving the house as he walked into the open area behind the house for some morning training. Just as he came to a stop in front of a training dummy, he looked up to see Kiyomiko standing in the tree, allowing him to see her. Wordlessly, Kiyomiko lifted up a card for him to see before she skewered it onto a branch for him, jumping backwards out of the tree and disappearing into the forest.

Next, she went to Kiba's house, almost hidden away in a heavily-wooded area of the village with only a few paths leading to it. From her perch on the fence, Kiyomiko could hear Kiba's mother talking with Kiba's sister but that wasn't what she was looking for. She waited for a few moments and just as she had expected, a sleepy looking Akamaru trotted out of the house, hopping up onto the fence where Kiyomiko waited. Slipping the note into his collar, Kiyomiko explained what to do and little white dog gave her a happy bark of understanding before he trotted back into the house, allowing Kiyomiko to disappear unseen.

When she arrived at Shino's house, she was pleasantly surprised to find him outside, standing on a treebranch away from prying eyes as he waited for her, his expression as unreadable as ever. It would stand to reason that he had been alerted to Kiyomiko's presence by the thousands of bugs that surrounded the Aburame clan compound. She smiled at him slightly, handing him the note without saying a word. He took it with a nod, seemingly understanding what she was giving him as she jumped back through the trees on her way back into the heart of the village.

After a short walk, Kiyomiko arrived on the main road of the village, walking down the market row to the small flower shop that Ino's family owned. Walking into the little shop, Kiyomiko smiled faintly when she saw Ino standing behind the counter, her eyes wide as she looked at Kiyomiko. Wordlessly, Kiyomiko crossed the room and set the card down on the counter in front of the blonde girl. Ino read it and nodded once before she took the card and slipped it into her pocket, looking up to see that Kiyomiko had already gone.

By the time the sun had burned off the morning mist completely, Kiyomiko arrived in a quiet residential neighborhood. The neighborhood children laughed happily as they walked towards the Academy, waving at Kiyomiko as she walked up to Sakura's house, slipping around behind it when no one was looking. With one good jump, Kiyomiko hopped onto the balcony connected to Sakura's room, looking in through the window. The room was empty because Sakura was downstairs having breakfast with her family. Easily, Kiyomiko slid the glass door open and left the card on Sakura's desk beside her pack and dropped from the balcony, leaving the glass door open just as she had done with Chouji's window.

Next, Kiyomiko went to the eastern side of the village where Tenten's apartment was. Using her chakra to scale the high stone walls, Kiyomiko walked up to the balcony of Tenten's fourth floor apartment. Like Kiyomiko had, Tenten lived alone in the small apartment, never speaking of any family or relatives, which made Kiyomiko feel for the girl. Jamming the card into a crack between the doorframe and the sliding glass door, Kiyomiko knocked on the glass sharply before she jumped off the balcony, hearing the door slide open a few seconds later.

With all of the cards handed out, Kiyomiko dropped onto the main path of the village and started walking aimlessly. The sun was now high overhead as the noon-hour approached and Kiyomiko followed her feet to wherever they led her. She stopped by the teahouse where she had met Temari and Kankuro and she smiled slightly, wondering how Gaara was these days as she took a sip of bitter tea. Paying her bill, Kiyomiko followed her nose towards the scent of ramen, where she knew she would find Naruto in the midst of enjoying his lunch.

Without warning, she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder, much to the surprise of Teuchi and his daughter. Naruto seemed surprised too, but mainly because he thought that Kiyomiko was still in the hospital. Without attracting too much attention, Kiyomiko explained that she wanted him to meet her at Shikamaru's house at sundown, telling him that he couldn't let anyone else know about the meeting. He nodded and Kiyomiko paid for his ramen, plus another bowl, before she left Ichiraku in search of something, anything that would keep her worried mind occupied until sundown.

-(o.O)-

Just as the sun sank below the horizon, the shadows of the village seemed to move in one direction, silently and unseen as if they moved with a purpose. A strange chill hung on the air as a mist formed, providing a thick curtain of cover for anyone to go unnoticed. Only one shadow stood still, high atop a tall tree in the center of the village, the mist seemingly originating there. Sharp silver eyes scanned the darkness until all of the other shadows had disappeared, the last shadow dropping from the top of the tall tree, a small flash of white-blue chakra appearing at the base of the tree for a few seconds before it too disappeared.

Kiyomiko left the center of the village and reappeared outside of Shikamaru's house where Naruto was waiting on the dirt road. Together, the two children left the house and ran towards the edge of the village, jumping through the trees wordlessly as they followed after the other moving shadows. Jumping over the chainlink fence that surrounded the Forest of Death, Kiyomiko and Naruto ran into the forest and disappeared. Naruto had expressed concern at first but he had seen Kiyomiko's expression and he had understood, on some level, that this had to be done.

Arriving at the waterfall a few minutes after everyone else, Kiyomiko led Naruto into the hidden cave, the flickering orange glow of a campfire causing the shadows to dance against the jagged stone walls. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw everyone there. Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Tenten, Neji, Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru, and even Sakura was there, their expressions varied between concern and suspicion. Kiyomiko stood at the front of the cave as Naruto and everyone else sat down around the fire, all eyes turning to look at the stone-faced silver-eyed girl.

"I'm glad that everyone chose to come.." Kiyomiko began, lowering her eyes for a moment as she took a few steps deeper into the cave, coming to a stop near a large flat rock and sitting down on top of it. "I asked you all to come tonight because Shikamaru told me that you all know.. about me. With the exception of Naruto, he found out on his own while I was travelling with him and Jiraiya."

"Hang on a second!" Naruto gaped, looking around at the rest of the Konoha Rookies. "Kiyo-chan, you mean that everyone else knows about..? How did that happen?"

"While I was in the hospital, everyone was worried about me and they got ahold of a copy of my medical chart." Kiyomiko answered, folding her arms over her chest as Naruto's eyes widened. "It's alright, Naruto. That's why we're all here, because they know and I wanted a chance to explain myself. Just think of it a little bit like Truth or Dare, except there are no dares and I'm the only one answering questions."

Naruto frowned slightly but he sat back down nonetheless. Kiyomiko was silent for a moment before she eventually sighed, slipping her pack off of her shoulders and setting it beside her, scooting back and sitting cross-legged on the large rock as she looked at each and every one of her friends for a moment. Shikamaru looked back at Kiyomiko with a reassuring nod and Kiyomiko understood what had to happen next.

"I'm sure you all know by know that I'm related to Orochimaru.. The truth about that is that I was.. created by him, which I only found out for sure recently. I'm a perfect clone of his genetics, except I have more to my DNA than just his genes. Somewhere along the line, Orochimaru tampered with my genetics, adding in the genes from others, like DNA from Uchiha Itachi and Amatsuki Aria, as well as others." Kiyomiko began, her voice quiet and detached as she explained what she knew, as if she wasn't really speaking to anyone in particular. "I don't know how he got the DNA samples from these people, except I can only assume that he got them from either the people directly or from the hospital. I also don't know how I turned out female when Orochimaru is male, or why my eyes are different from his. I can only assume that he pressed a wrong button or two when mixing the genetic slop than made me."

"All joking aside, my genetics don't lie so neither will I. I am related to two traitors of Konoha, I can't escape that fact no matter how hard I try. All I can do right now is hope that maybe someday I'll be able to make things right somehow. If that means sacrificing my life to ensure Konoha's safety, then so be it." Kiyomiko sighed, folding her arms across her chest once again. "I was also raised by Orochimaru, trained by him from the time I was strong enough to hold a weapon. It didn't matter to me what I was learning or how I was learning it, I was just a stupid kid that wanted to make her father proud. I didn't realize until I was older that what he had made me do.. what he had led me to believe was normal.. was actually wrong. I've done a lot of terrible things in the past but never once did I hurt someone _knowing_ that it was wrong. That doesn't excuse it, either. I have to live with what I've done for the rest of my life.."

Kiyomiko was silent for a moment as she stared at the smooth stone floor of the cave, the flickering light from the campfire casting deep shadows against the jagged stone walls. She let her words seep in to the people around her, looking at each solemn or startled expression during her explaination with a flicker of sadness in her eyes, her heart clenching when she saw doubt among them. After a few minutes, Kiyomiko reached back and pulled her long black hair up into a messy ponytail, pulling the Konoha forehead protector from around her neck.

"If any of you are having doubts of my sincerity to protect this village.." Kiyomiko began, pulling a kunai from the pack beside her and pressing it's point against her neck in one fluid motion, her expression as cold as ice as she closed her eyes. "If you doubt my willingness to protect _you and your families_, then go ahead and kill me. I won't stop you."

There was a silence of mixed scents, mixed expressions. Surprise, shock, fear, worry, concern, but not one of them was doubt, all doubt had been erased as Kiyomiko opened her eyes, lowering the kunai and setting it beside her with a sigh. A few of her friends looked relieved, others took a little longer for the surprise to wear off, others still were looking at Kiyomiko's neck with wide eyes. Turning her head, Kiyomiko pulled the collar of her shirt away and exposed the left side of her neck for all to see. Deep, permenant scars crawled over her skin, seeming harsh in the flickering firelight, all of them contrasted by the two opposing tomoe designs, like a tattoo that rested on her collarbone, just where Sasuke's was. Sakura's eyes widened.

"These scars came from two different times when my father tried to kill me. The first happened when I was eight years old, when many of you were just entering the Academy for the first time. I couldn't stay with him anymore, couldn't follow his plans and stand by while he murdered and experimented on innocent people, so I tried to run away.. He caught me a few minutes later and very nearly slit my throat. I don't know how I got away from that, I can't remember." Kiyomiko explained honestly, her eyes downcast as she recounted her memories. "The second, some of you may remember. It was during the second exam.. Orochimaru was here, in this forest, looking for me. He attacked me and left me with this curse mark. It's an infection, where he forced his own chakra into my body like a battery. Except, when you use it, you don't think clearly, you let your darkness get the better of you and if you're not careful, you'll end up just like him."

"Kiyo-chan.. How come you're not affected by it? I've seen you mold chakra dozens of times and.." Sakura stopped herself, looking around apprehensively. Kiyomiko knew that she was thinking about Sasuke. Kiyomiko had heard from Kakashi that Sasuke had a curse mark as well, given to him the same night that Kiyomiko had recieved hers.

"I'm not affected by it because I'm protected by something stronger... Something inside me.." Kiyomiko's gaze landed on Naruto briefly and she saw his eyes widen in confusion. Just then, Kiyomiko's eyes lost focus for a few seconds and a white-blue glowing tattoo appeared around the curse mark, scrawling symbols surrounding it to form an intricate seal that slowly began to cover her entire body, becoming visible briefly before it disappeared. Her eyes regaining focus, Kiyomiko turned to look at the two Hyugas' with a solemn expression. "Neji, Hinata, you'll probably be able to see what I mean if you use your Byakugan."

"Hn. You're not going to use that chakra-laced mist again, are you?" Neji sighed sardonically, both he and Hinata standing up and walking a few steps away from the small campfire, bringing their hands up to their chests as they formed a seal.

"No.. You'll be able to see me this time.." Kiyomiko chuckled slightly as she stood, walking in front of the two Hyugas' with a grim smile. A chill began to form inside the small cave and Kiyomiko saw her breath as she sighed, summoning her ice armor. "As I really am."

The group watched as ice began to coat Kiyomiko's body, beginning at the tips of her fingers and toes and the top of her head, slowly crawling inwards to cover her entire body, encasing it in a thin layer of crystal clear ice that somehow moved and flexed with her body as she breathed. They had all seen Kiyomiko's ice armor during the Third Exam, but none of them had seen it this close up. Neji and Hinata's eyes widened as they used their Byakugan to see into Kiyomiko, seeing through the ice armor and into Kiyomiko's inner workings. Through their eyes, they could see Yuki's chakra inside her.

"It's just like..!" Neji gaped, his eyes wide as his Byakugan fell away. He took a step back, looking at Kiyomiko with a look of shock that she didn't know the boy was even capable of. He glanced between Kiyomiko and Naruto and she understood. Neji must have seen Naruto use the Kyubi's chakra in their battle during the Third Exam.

"It's almost looks like there's a tiny snowstorm inside of her.." Hinata took a step forward and reached out, as if she were going to touch Kiyomiko. The silver-eyed girl stood still, feeling Hinata's small hand press against her chest, over her heart, where Yuki's seal was located. "Like there's a blizzard surrounding her heart.. Kiyo-chan.. what is that?"

"His name is Yuki." Kiyomiko answered calmly, her ice armor gradually receeding back into her skin as Hinata withdrew her hand and dismissed her Byakugan. Naruto and Neji looked on with troubled expressions as the rest of the group seemed to have a collective expression of confusion. "That's not his real name, that's just what I've been calling him. I don't know what his real name is because he won't tell me but I know that he's been sealed up inside me since I was born."

"What is he..?" Neji asked, his eyes narrowed on the spot that Hinata had touched, as if he could still see it without using his Byakugan. Kiyomiko sighed and sat down on the rock again, pressing a hand over her heart. She could faintly feel Yuki's presence within her, slightly stirring as if he were uncomfortable.

"He's a spirit, an ice elemental. He's been protecting me since I was a baby and recently, he's been giving me chakra and healing me when I'm wounded. The ice armor you just saw was taught to me by Yuki.." Kiyomiko explained quietly as Neji and Hinata sat back down by the fire, casting curious glances her way. Kiyomiko glanced at Naruto again before she lowered her eyes. "He's not violent at all, like other spirits I know of, but he isn't weak either."

"What I'd like to know is why you came to _this_ village.." Ino spoke up, her tone and expression detached as she looked up at Kiyomiko. "And there's still a five-year gap that you haven't told us about.. What happened during that time? And why come to Konoha?"

"After I escaped from Orochimaru, I didn't know what to do.. I woke up in a forest, cold and alone. I had never been away from my father before, never seen the outside world without him right beside me. I wandered aimlessly for a few weeks, doing what I had to do to survive, until I stumbled upon a small hidden village in the middle of nowhere." Kiyomiko recounted quietly, her eyes lowered as she remembered. "I managed to get inside the village and I stayed there for a few weeks at least, changing my appearance every day so no one could recognize me. I learned new techniques, new jutsus and fighting styles and then I moved on. I left the village and went to the next one I could find just as Orochimaru's mercenaries started showing up, looking for me.. That's what I've been doing for the last five years, travelling from village to village, learning what I can before I move on. I came to Konoha the same way, except I had heard about Konoha from my father when I was a child. He hated it, so I had foolishly assumed that this would be the last place he would ever look for me. I was wrong."

"Why would he come after you, though?" Tenten asked gently, looking over at Kiyomiko as the flickering firelight caused shadows to dance across her face. "I guess I still don't understand.. Why go through all the trouble of finding you when he was just going to kill you anyway?"

"Because I have something that Orochimaru desperately wants." Kiyomiko sighed, knowing that there was no escape now. Kiyomiko activated her sharingan, three black tomoe blooming in each blood red eye as she looked down at the fire. Her sharingan began to memorize each reaction among her friends and Kiyomiko felt a cold jab of fear. "Neji was the first person to voice suspicions that I might have an occular ability, Lee told me before the first exam. I've been keeping it hidden until now. Never fighting with my full potential, always training alone somewhere far away from people.. I was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out that I had Sharingan.."

"So.. Orochimaru is after you because you have Sharingan.." Sakura breathed, a look of understanding flickering in her eyes. There was something else in Sakura's eyes that caused Kiyomiko to look away. Pain. "You led him here.. "

"I didn't lead him here. Konoha was just part of one of Orochimaru's plans, it had nothing to do with me until Kabuto found me before the first exam. I had no way of knowing that Kabuto was working for Orochimaru because Kabuto had been in Konoha the entire time, I had never seen him when I was still..." Kiyomiko trailed off, hugging her knees to her chest as she deactivated her sharingan. "Orochimaru is after anyone with abilities that he wants for himself, that's why he created the curse mark. To weed out the truely special ones and mark them, like branding them. Except.. Only maybe thirty percent of people actually survive the curse mark being implanted. I've seen the tests myself, seen the results with my own eyes.. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

"Wait a second.. If Orochimaru is after Sharingan, wouldn't that mean that Sasuke is in danger as well?" Ino asked, suddenly looking pale, her blue eyes wide as a look of realization struck her.

"Yes." Kiyomiko said with a grim nod, meeting Ino's worried gaze head-on. "Orochimaru gave Sasuke a curse mark on the same night that I recieved mine, at first it was just a back-up plan but now.. I think he's more focused on Sasuke than me.. In his mind.. Sasuke is ideal, being the brother of Itachi.. Sasuke is more fun."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Ino gasped, trembling slightly. "We have to protect him! We have to tell him everything!"

"No one is telling Sasuke anything." Kiyomiko stood slowly, her voice suddenly hard as she looked down at Ino. "What do you think Sasuke would do if he knew? If Sasuke knew about me, that I was related to the Uchiha clan because I carry the genes of the man he hates most in this world? He would grow to hate me, just like he hates his older brother and he would leave. Orochimaru gave him power, the power he needs to kill his brother. There's still a chance that he'll leave anyway but telling him about me would just hasten that. Sasuke would become my replacement, following Orochimaru and committing the same atrocities that I committed in an attempt to get strong enough to kill his brother."

"Kiyo-chan is right, Ino." Shikamaru spoke up, resting a hand on his teammate's shoulder. "We can't tell Sasuke anything. There's nothing we can do if Sasuke leaves, especially if Kiyo-chan isn't strong enough to stop Orochimaru.."

Kiyomiko felt a sharp pain in her chest when she heard Shikamaru's words, folding her arms across her chest as a faint growl of frustration escaped her lips. All eyes turned to her as she looked away, her expression distant as she bit her lower lip in thought. She looked angry, the flickering orange glow of the firelight casting dancing shadows across her features and giving her a haunted appearance. Shikamaru was right, Kiyomiko wasn't strong enough to defeat Orochimaru on her own, and if she wasn't strong enough then none of the Konoha Rookies were.

"Kiyo-chan.. What happened when you were fighting against Kabuto?" Naruto asked, looking up at his teammate with a solemn expression. "When I got there, you looked like you had been paralyzed.."

"In the middle of our battle, when it was starting to look like I would win, Kabuto formed a weird seal and I just.. stopped." Kiyomiko sighed, her pupil-less silver eyes glaring at the wall as if she could set it on fire, her hands balling into fists. "I couldn't move at all.. And then he released the jutsu and all of my chakra, Yuki's too, was just drained in an instant.. You showed up just as Kabuto was going to kill me."

"That.. actually sounds like a fail-safe, like a precautionary measure you put on machinery to shut it down when it goes haywire." Kiba frowned, looking up at Kiyomiko as her eyes widened slightly.

"I was just thinking the same thing." Shikamaru sighed, lowering his head into his hands, looking exhausted. "If Orochimaru 'built' a fail-safe into Kiyo-chan, that could be a real problem.."

"But Kiyo-chan is so strong! That doesn't seem right!" Naruto cried suddenly, jumping up with a determined expression on his face. "If Kiyo-chan isn't strong enough now, we should help her get stronger! Strong enough that even the fail-safe thingie won't work!"

"Naruto, don't get ahead of yourself.." Ino sighed, waving him off with a look of disinterest. "How could we make Kiyo-chan stronger? She could probably beat up all of us!"

"Actually.. That's not a bad idea. Except I think Naruto got it a little turned around." Shikamaru looked as if he'd just had a major revelation, his eyes widening as he looked up at Kiyomiko. Kiyomiko blinked and turned to look back down at him with a puzzled expression. "Kiyo-chan isn't strong enough when she's alone.. but if she were to train _us_, maybe we would be strong enough together.."

It was as if the terrible cloud that hung over the group had just evaporated, all eyes turning to look at Kiyomiko with realization and expectancy. Kiyomiko's eyes widened as she looked at the faces of her friends, stunned. They wanted _her_ to train _them_? Had they lost their minds? Kiyomiko had just told them that she couldn't use her full strength to fight, or else she would be discovered by the village. And yet the expectant stares continued, the decision had already been made, Kiyomiko was now going to teach her friends how to fight.

-(o.O)-

The next day, Kiyomiko stood in the center of the small cave, looking at the jagged stone walls as she hummed a nonsensical tune. Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Neji stood behind her, watching her intently as she inspected the walls with a sort of childish curiousity. Tugging a kunai from the pouch on her thigh, Kiyomiko reached up to one of the jagged spikes on the wall and brought the handle of the kunai down on it, cracking the spike with ease. Returning the kunai to her pouch, Kiyomiko looked down at the broken stone spike in her hands almost thoughtfully, tossing it around a bit to get a feel for it's weight.

"Ne.. Kiyo-chan.. What are we doing here?" Kiba sighed, sitting down on a rock with Akamaru in his lap.

"We're going to be remodelling the cave." Kiyomiko said with a light sigh, holding up the stone spike for all to see, pointing to the banding design along the circumference of the stone. "These walls are made out of river silt, condensed and hardened over time. You saw how easily I broke this spike off. I imagine a wall of two will be just as easy with a couple of good smashes."

"But, what if the walls are as fragile as you say, then won't they all collapse?" Chouji spoke up thoughtfully in between munching on chips. "Like a cave in?"

"There are ways around that." Kiyomiko said, turning and looking up at a wide expanse of stone wall, pressing her hand against a flat area and closing her eyes. "The walls will harden if I freeze this whole cave and that will prevent a cave in."

"Even if we do all those things, what would be the point if there's nothing around this cave but rock?" Neji sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned up against a wall.

"Oh? You're back to your old self again?" Kiyomiko grinned knowingly as she looked over her shoulder at Neji, catching him off-guard with her fox-like grin. "What did I tell you when we first spoke?"

"You mean before the second exam?" Neji quirked a brow as he remembered their brief conversation. "I asked for your name and age, and you told me it didn't matter."

"No, no." Kiyomiko sighed, shaking her head. "I meant before the third exam. 'Look beneath the surface'. There's more to this cave than meets the eye, Neji. I chose it for a reason. There are tunnels and chambers all around us, with only a few thin walls seperating them."

"How can you tell all that, Kiyo-chan?" Shikamaru asked, looking slightly skeptical.

"I can feel them." Kiyomiko answered, swiping one of her hands over the surface of the rock walls and held it up to show her friends. Her hand was wet with cool, clear water. "There's water along every wall in this cave, except for deep down. I can use the water to sort of see where everything is, like Gaara uses his sand. Here, just stand on that rock over there so I don't freeze you."

Following Kiyomiko's instructions, the four boys quickly jumped up onto a nearby rock that was only just barely large enough to hold all of them. Standing there, the boys watched Kiyomiko walk into the center of the cave and take a deep breath, her eyes losing focus slightly. Soon, the temperature began to drop, the air becoming colder and colder around her until frost began forming along the walls, floor and ceiling of the cave, except for the rock that the boys were standing on. After a few minutes, the frost was replaced by thick sheets of clear ice, giving the cave a glassy appearance as the ice soon covered every available surface, even the waterfall at the mouth of the cave.

When she was done, Kiyomiko's eyes regained their focus and she swayed slightly, startling the four boys behind her until she caught herself, giving a faint chuckle and waving them off. Now that the entire cave was frozen, Kiyomiko pulled a handkerchief from her pack and ripped it into long, thin strips, tying one of the slips of fabric around a jagged spike that jutted out from the wall. Curious, the boys stepped off of the rock and walked to the center of the frozen cave as Kiyomiko took a few steps backwards, pointing at the strip of cloth as she grinned over her shoulder at Kiba and Akamaru.

"Think you can hit that with a Gatsuga?" Kiyomiko smirked as if she had issued a challenge. "It should only take one hit to bust through the wall."

"You bet!" Kiba grinned and Akamaru barked in agreement, the two charging into a spinning attack and soaring at the strip of fabric. At the last second, Kiyomiko grabbed a kunai from her pouch and used it to parry any rocks that were sent flying by the attack, protecting Shikamaru, Chouji and Neji.

Kiba and Akamaru essencially drilled through the thin wall of rock and ice, their bodies disappearing into a dark chamber beyond the now destroyed wall. With a knowing smirk, Kiyomiko jumped through the rubble into the next room, her eyes adjusting almost instantly to the darkness. Shikamaru, Neji and Chouji followed, almost apprehensively because of the thick curtain of darkness, but they still carefully clamored over the rubble and into the chamber. Kiba and Akamaru sat in the center of the chamber, looking dizzy as Kiyomiko walked up to them with a grin.

"Well done." Kiyomiko chuckled, scratching Kiba and Akamaru's heads as if they were both dogs. Walking a few steps away, Kiyomiko brought her thumbs to her lips and bit down, piercing the skin with her incisors and drawing a small amount of blood. Forming a few quick seals, Kiyomiko slammed her bloody hands against the cool stone floor. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There were two small explosions in the darkness, startling the four boys until the smoke cleared. Kiyomiko stood in the center of the large chamber with her hands on her hips as two identical white two-tailed foxes curled around her calves like cats, one with sky blue eyes, the other with spring green eyes. In the dim light, Kiyomiko's eyes almost seemed to glow like the foxes' eyes as they looked around the room with mild disinterest.

"Ne-chan, you always summon us in the strangest places.." Kotone, the blue-eyed fox, sighed slightly as she sat down.

"Mhm." The green-eyed fox, Takeshi, mused as he too sat back, "But, Kotone-nechan, you know she wouldn't summon us if she didn't need us."

"Whoa.. Kiyo-chan, I didn't know that you could use summons." Kiba stood up and stared as Shikamaru, Chouji and Neji arrived, all eyes turning to Kiyomiko and the two-tailed twin foxes. "Wait a second.. That huge five-tailed fox that was in the village during the attack... That really was you?"

"I think that dog-boy is talking about Mamoru-niichan.." Kotone smirked as she whispered to Takeshi, who smirked as well. Kiyomiko chuckled and reached down, stroking the twins' heads lovingly.

"Yeah, that white five-tailed fox was one of my friends." Kiyomiko answered with a fox-like smile, kneeling down between the two white foxes. "Do you think you two could do me a favor?"

"Anything for you, Ne-chan." Takeshi grinned, his one of his tails curling around Kiyomiko's ankle. Kotone nodded in agreement and Kiyomiko hugged the two foxes close for a moment, the four boys looking down at the suddenly affectionate girl with a look of surprise. They had never seen her smile so much.

"I'm going to need a little light in here before I can get to work remodeling. Do you think you could grab some of Elder Katsu's special torches from her storehouse?" Kiyomiko asked with a mischievous tone.

"**Just leave it to us, Ne-chan!**" The two foxes said in unison as they disappeared with a soft pop, leaving Kiyomiko alone with the four boys.

"Purely out of curiousity, " Shikamaru began, looking down at Kiyomiko with a puzzled expression. "Why did those two foxes call you "ne-chan"?"

"They kinda sounded like they were Yakuza.." Chouji mused, a thoughtful expression crossing his features.

"That's because the fox village pretty much _is_ Yakuza." Kiyomiko answered, sitting back on the cold stone floor, looking up at the four boys around her. "That's just part of their culture. They call me "Ne-chan" because I've earned a place in their village. All the foxes, with the exception of the Elders, call me "ne-chan" or "cousin"."

"Whoa.. Sounds like you're pretty high up on the food chain!" Kiba gawked, kneeling down in front of Kiyomiko, Akamaru sitting atop the boy's head.

"Hn.. I suppose I am." Kiyomiko mused, touching her chin in a thoughtful expression. "One of the elders even offered to let me take over his clan someday, but I'm pretty sure he was drunk."

Just as Kiba opened his mouth to speak against, two soft pops echoed through the chamber and the twin foxes returned, appearing out of the smoke, carrying two large bundles on their backs. Kiyomiko grinned and relieved the two foxes of the heavy bundles, setting them on the floor in front of her and untying the green fabric, revealing two dozen average-looking torches.

"Eh? They look like regular torches.." Chouji mumbled, taking a step forward and picking up one of the slender torches, holding it up and looking it over as he turned it this way and that. Kiyomiko quickly handed out the torches to the four boys so they each held two or three in each hand.

"Hold the torches up, away from your faces. Keep them steady." Kiyomiko instructed and the four boys followed her actions, holding them up above their heads like Kiyomiko was. Looking down at the two foxes, Kiyomiko grinned. "Ready."

"**Alright!**" The two foxes chittered and jumped up into the air, summoning small amounts of chakra into their muzzles as pale blue fire erupted into the air as they exhaled, setting all of the torches aflame before they hit the ground. The torches flickered to life, blue flames growing stronger until a steady white-blue light enveloped the chamber.

"Okay, that should do it." Kiyomiko smiled, holding her torches out ahead of her as she walked around the chamber, jamming the torches into cracks in the solid stone walls. The boys followed suit and soon the whole chamber was lit evenly with a pale blue light.

The chamber was huge, at least three stories tall, reaching upwards in a large dome-shape with a small hole in the ceiling, letting a small amount of natural light inside. There were jagged spikes of stone, stalagmites and stalactites, stretching between the floor and the ceiling, some forming columns around the room. A small amount of water was trickling from a crack in the wall, travelling across the stone into a small natural basin to form something like a small pond.

Pulling the slips of torn fabric from her pocket, Kiyomiko walked around the circular room and tied two more slips to cracks in the walls, marking where the walls were the thinnest. Following Kiyomiko's direction, Chouji and Kiba broke through each of the walls, revealing two smaller chambers. The twin foxes, Kotone and Takeshi, went and aquired more of Elder Katsu's special torches, lighting them for Kiyomiko as she lit the two smaller chambers. After everything was lit, Kiyomiko sat back and admired the cave, surprised with how perfect it was and how well it suited their needs.

"Alright, this will work." Kiyomiko nodded with a sense of finality as she walked around the rooms, inspecting everything. There were a few naturally formed corridors that Kiyomiko began to block off, using the rubble from the broken walls to form a barrier of sorts, so that no one would get lost when they came here. She blocked off all but one, intending for it to be an escape tunnel should anything go wrong, walking down the narrow corridor until she reached the end. Once again enlisting Kiba's help, a large hole was punched through the ceiling of the corridor at an angle, almost forming stairs from the rotation effect of Kiba's attack.

Walking out of the tunnel, Kiyomiko grinned when she saw the village in the distance. The tunnel had opened up near the top of a steep hill behind the Hokage mountain, a few trees surrounding the opening and shielding it from view. It was perfect. Dismissing Kotone and Takeshi, Kiyomiko turned and instructed the boys to go back to the village and tell the others to meet up at the cave at sundown. Taijutsu training would begin at midnight.

-(o.O)-

Just as Kiyomiko had asked, the group returned at sundown, arriving at the old entrance to the cave to find that the wall had been busted through. Surprisingly, thick branches had been lashed together with vines, forming a ramp leading down into the larger chamber where a huge bonfire sat in the center of the chamber, smoke rising up through the hole in the ceiling. Kiyomiko had been busy while everyone had been gone. Sturdy branches had been lashed together and fitted into archways and corridors to form supports, the small pond in the corner of the chamber had been broken open, providing a fresh water source.

"It's not done yet.." Kiyomiko began, walking out of one of the two smaller chambers, clapping the dust from her clothes as everyone looked around, wide-eyed. "I still have to get training dummies, some furniture, practice weapons.. There's a lot that still needs to be done but for now, it'll do."

"Kiyo-chan, you did all this?" Sakura blinked in amazement, peeking into the room that Kiyomiko had just walked out of. There were a few make-shift cots lining the walls, sturdy enough to hold one or two people each. "How did you know what do to..?"

"I've lived in caves before, Sakura." Kiyomiko drawled, walking over to a naturally formed stone platform, raised maybe a foot higher than the rest of the stone floor. Looking at the Konoha Rookies, Kiyomiko saw a familiar bowl cut near the back and she put her hands on her hips. "Lee, when did you get out of the hospital?"

"Just this morning.." Lee said bashfully, stepping out from behind Tenten and Shino with a nervous smile. "I sort of followed Tenten and Neji when they left the restaurant in such a hurry."

"Did they tell you what we're all doing here?" Kiyomiko asked, hopping down from the platform and walking over to the green-clad boy, circling around him once as she looked him over, her sharp eyes looking for any signs of unhealed wounds. When she found none, she stood in front of Lee with her hands on her hips, her expression near unreadable.

"Yes.. They said it was secret training.. " Lee answered nervously, seeming uncomfortable with Kiyomiko staring at him like she was. Glancing to the side, Neji and Tenten gave Kiyomiko a nod and she nodded as well, turning back to Lee. "They told me about.. well.. everything."

"And you're alright with it?" Kiyomiko asked flatly, her sharp pupil-less silver eyes narrowing slightly when the boy nodded. "You know that you can never tell anyone that you come here or why and you can never tell anyone, no matter how tempting, who or what I am. The same goes for everyone here."

Lee nodded again and Kiyomiko sighed, relaxing her stony expression as she turned and hopped back up onto the platform. Folding her arms across her chest, Kiyomiko looked at her friends. They all returned her gaze expectantly, their expressions determined as a slight smile formed on Kiyomiko's features. They were ready.

"Alright then!" Kiyomiko said suddenly, a sly fox-like smile appearing on Kiyomiko's face. "Just so we're clear, you can't tell your teachers anything about this place. If they ask where you learned any new moves, make something up. We'll be meeting here three nights a week from now on, monday, wednesday and saturday, so be sure you all rest up on those days. If you don't show up, don't worry, this isn't mandatory. You'll be caught up the next time you come. For now, you'll be working together in teams of two but instead of battling each other, you'll be fighting against those."

Kiyomiko pointed around the room at the stalagmites and stalactites that grew around the room, some small, others reaching at least ten feet in length. Some were marked, ringed with a thin band of ice, others had vines tied around them, dangling down to the cavern floor. One, near the back of the cavern, had handprints on it in a white, chalky substance. It hung from the ceiling, at least twenty feet tall and six feet around at the top, easily the largest one in the entire cave.

"You'll be using _only_ taijutsu, that goes especially for the sensory-types. I won't be participating today, instead I'll sit back here and watch for now." Kiyomiko watched as her friends exchanged puzzled glances for a moment before she continued. "It'll help me better gauge your skill-level and I'll be able to tell you where you need improvement, if any."

Understanding, the group nodded and Kiyomiko broke the group up into pairs that generally wouldn't work well together. This, Kiyomiko explained, was to promote better teamwork and adaptability. Naruto and Tenten, Shino and Sakura, Hinata and Lee, Chouji and Neji, Ino and Kiba with Akamaru, and Shikamaru opted out, choosing to stay next to Kiyomiko and watch as well. After giving Lee a stern warning not to over-do it, Kiyomiko sent the teams into action, activating her sharingan as she sat in the center of the room, by the bonfire, Shikamaru at her side.

"If I smell any chakra being used, you'll sit out training for the rest of the night!" Kiyomiko called through the chamber, her voice echoing to the teams. "Oh yeah! And that big stalactite back there is off-limits unless you think you can crack it with one blow!"

"Do you really thing something like that is possible without using chakra?" Shikamaru asked, leaning back against a boulder as Kiyomiko watched the teams, her sharingan darting around the room, memorizing each move. "That seems a little far-fetched."

"Yeah, it's possible." Kiyomiko answered calmly, watching Lee a little longer than the others, since he had just gotten out of the hospital. He and Hinata seemed to be having a little trouble with their teamwork. Lee was tremendously outgoing whereas Hinata was shy. It would take a little effort from both of them to be able to work together. "I've seen trees that big knocked down with one punch without using chakra."

Kiyomiko sat back and watched as each team attacked the stalactites and stalagmites, all of them trying as hard as they could without using any chakra. Using her sharingan, Kiyomiko memorized their moves and made mental notes where each of them needed improvement in their attacks. Defense would come later, when they had tired themselves out beating against rock. Once all but the few largest stalagmites and stalactites had been destroyed, Kiyomiko used clones to move the rubble to one side of the room as the teams gathered around the bonfire, a few clones gathering fresh water from the natural spring and passing it around in wooden cups.

"Alright, judging by your attacks, I know now where your skills are." Kiyomiko sighed, sitting back and deactivating her sharingan as everyone caught their breath. "Since our schedules will conflict due to missions, I'd like to ask two of you to take over for me if I can't make it to train you. Neji, Lee, your styles are very different but you should think of that as a blessing and use your skills to work together. Helping me to train the others in taijutsu will teach them that as well. Differences can make or break your battle strategy and it's best if you learn that early on."

The two boys nodded in understanding and Kiyomiko looked around at her friends as they rested, carefully planning the next stages of their training when her eyes landed on Lee. He was sitting in an awkward position, his spine unusually rigid as he lifted his head to take a drink of water. Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed and Lee froze when he glanced over at her, setting down his wooden cup beside him. With a faint sigh, Kiyomiko reached into her pack and pulled out a small brown glass vial, passing it to Lee.

"Put that in your water and sip it slowly. It tastes terrible but you're a big boy, you can handle it." Kiyomiko instructed as Lee accepted the vial, uncorking it and pouring a strange smelling clear liquid into his water. "When you're done, come over here and let me take a look at you."

Doing as he was told, Lee cautiously took a sip of the medicine that Kiyomiko had given him and nearly gagged at the taste. Recovering quickly, he held his own and continued to choke it down, probably perceiving it as some sort of training to see how long he could last. Out of the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko could see Akamaru covering his nose with his paws, Kiba almost mimicking the little white dog as they looked at Lee's cup in disdain.

"Kiyo-chan, what's in that stuff?" Kiba whined, Akamaru whining right along with him. "It smells terrible.."

"Lots of different herbs." Kiyomiko answered calmly, "It promotes healing and acts as a natural pain killer. I mixed it strong, in case I ever needed it during missions, so it should help Lee quite a bit."

After a few minutes, Lee finally choked down the last of the medicine and set down his cup beside him, slowly standing up and shuffling over to Kiyomiko. Sitting down on a flat rock in front of her, Kiyomiko stood behind him and lowered the top of his green suit to his waist, exposing his bare chest, bandages wrapped around his abdomen. The group watched as Kiyomiko knelt down behind Lee and gently ran her fingertips along his spine, locating the half-healed wound when Lee involuntarily flinched at her touch.

"Alright, Lee. I need you to sit still for me, okay?" Kiyomiko asked, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder for a moment. He nodded and Kiyomiko sat back, holding her delicate hands over Lee's half-healed wounds, her fingertips barely an inch away from his spine. Gradually, a gentle green chakra leaked from Kiyomiko's fingertips and pulsed into Lee's body, the chakra rippling against his skin like water. Lee's eyes widened slightly and he winced just before Kiyomiko brought her right hand up, covering her left, her fingertips glowing with a white-blue chakra that mixed with the healing green chakra. After a few moments, Lee relaxed, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "How are you feeling, Lee?"

"Better than I've felt since I got out of the hospital.. There's hardly any pain at all." Lee spoke quietly as Kiyomiko's chakra flowed into him steadily, healing his wounds gradually.

"I hope you understand that I can't heal your wounds all at once.." Kiyomiko said, focusing on her task. "It would draw suspicion when you went in for your check-ups, so I can only heal you a little bit at a time."

"I understand, and it's alright." Lee smiled slightly, showing a remarkable amount of seriousness that seemed to surprise his teammates, Neji and Tenten. "I'm just glad to be out of the hospital."

"I know what you mean." Kiyomiko chuckled as she continued funnelling her chakra into healing the boy. "I hate hospitals too. I've been waking up in them too often, three times since I've come to Konoha."

"Kiyo-chan, when did you learn medical ninjutsu?" Sakura asked quietly, hovering over Kiyomiko's shoulder as she watched the bruises on Lee's back begin to fade. "When you were travelling with Tsunade-sama?"

"Nah, Kiyo-chan knew it all along!" Naruto spoke up, tearing himself away from an abnormally serious conversation with Akamaru. "She's healed me plenty of times, especially when I was training with Ero-sennin."

"I only know a little, to be honest. Just enough to ease pain and stimulate the body's natural healing process." Kiyomiko explained, gradually tapering off her chakra and sitting back on her heels with a sigh. "There now. I won't tell you to stop training, Lee, but do try to be careful. I know how amped up you can get, but remember that you're still healing."

"Alright." Lee nodded, pulling his suit back up around his arms and chest, turning to look over his shoulder with a kind smile until he noticed the cool sweat on Kiyomiko's brow, her expression exhausted. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Kiyomiko smiled slightly as Naruto and Shikamaru quickly stood and walked over to her, helping her to her feet. The two boys wordlessly sat her down on a rock near the bonfire and got her a cup of water. "I just need to follow my own advice sometimes. I'm still healing too, technically."

"It's been three weeks since that battle.." Naruto mumbled quietly, plopping down next to Kiyomiko, his expression distant. "Whatever jutsu that jerk Kabuto used must have really messed you up.."

"Yeah, I guess it did." Kiyomiko sighed, taking a sip of water, her eyes downcast. "I just wish I knew a way around it. Living with the idea that someone could do that to me whenever I fight is.. frightening.."

"If we knew more about it, maybe we could help.. " Shikamaru mused quietly, his eyes showing a slight flicker of worry when he looked at Kiyomiko. She looked pale in the firelight, and tired. Moreso than usual. It was taking her a long time to regain the chakra that she had lost. "What was the seal that Kabuto used?"

"It was weird." Kiyomiko frowned, setting her cup down beside her and forming the seal with her hands. Pressing her index fingers and thumbs together, she formed a diamond shape, the rest of her fingers knitting together to form a point in the middle of the diamond. "I've never seen a seal like this before.."

"Hm.. I'll look into it." Shikamaru nodded, committing the seal to memory. "I have to stop by the library tomorrow anyway."

"I'll come with you. I've actually never been to a library before." Kiyomiko admitted with a slightly bashful smile.

"Nope." Shikamaru declared shortly, suddenly assuming his father's tone as he folded his arms across his chest. "You're staying home tomorrow. You need to rest. If you don't stay home, I'll tell mom that you haven't fully recovered and she'll make you go back to the hospital."

"Ehhh?" Kiyomiko whined, startling a few of her friends by how much she sounded like a little kid. Shikamaru didn't budge, though, his mind made up.

After everyone had rested, they decided that it was too late to train any more, gathering up their belongings and departing for their homes one by one. Soon, only Kiyomiko and Shikamaru remained. Kiyomiko was so tired that she could barely walk, having to force herself just to stand. Shikamaru, noticing this, decided to take matters into his own hands, literally. In one sweeping motion, Shikamaru picked up Kiyomiko and held her in his arms as he left the cave through the new entrance that faced the village.

Keeping to the shadows, Shikamaru walked towards his house, his grip strong on the struggling Kiyomiko despite her protests. After a while, she quieted down and rested her head against his chest, almost pouting as he carried her home. It was a quiet night, the moon high overhead as crickets chirped nearby, a soft summer breeze stirring the leaves and bringing with it the sweet scent of summer fruits and sun-warmed grasses. It was actually.. kind of nice..

Looking up at Shikamaru, Kiyomiko noticed that he had been looking down at her, the faintest traces of a blush on his cheeks. Startled by this, Kiyomiko blushed too and looked away, trying to find something else to distract her. Shikamaru quickened his pace and soon they were back at the Nara family house, the windows darkened, signalling that Shikaku and Yoshino were already asleep. Creeping in through the door to Kiyomiko's room, Shikamaru gently set the frail-looking girl down and mumbled a goodnight as he left the room, closing the sliding door behind him.

Sinking down to her knees in the middle of her room, Kiyomiko sighed and held her head. What the heck was that? Not only did Shikamaru _carry_ her home, but he had looked at her so intensely.. Just what had he been thinking then, when he looked at her like that? And why was he blushing? More importantly, why had Kiyomiko been blushing? Almost hesitantly, Kiyomiko lifted her hands to feel her still-warn cheeks with a faint sigh. She was still blushing and she had no idea why..


	16. Accepting History

The next morning, the sun rose slowly, Kiyomiko sitting crosslegged on her futon with the sliding shoji-screen door to the backyard open. It was hot. Damn hot. It wasn't even seven in the morning yet and it was already sweltering, humid and sticky. It was official, Kiyomiko hated summer. Getting up slowly, Kiyomiko peeled off her thin white yukata, draping it over the back of a wooden chair as she got dressed, while still wearing as little as possible.

Choosing from the clothing that Yoshino had bought for her, Kiyomiko put on a pair of shorts made out of a thin, airy pale blue fabric, hanging from her body and looking more like a skirt than shorts. After that, she pulled on a short pale blue sleeveless V-neck shirt with a high collar, leaving a portion of her stomach and her arms bare. Slipping her feet into plain grey sandles, Kiyomiko tied her forehead protector around her waist like a belt and slipped her hands into a pair of silver bangles, pulling her long black hair up into a messy ponytail, her bangs covering her face slightly.

It was loose and airy and she was grateful for that, hoping that she would be able to stay cool while she was forced to lounge around the Nara's house for the day. Though, she had to admit that she was showing a little more skin than she was used to, the hot air against her stomach making her feel a little self-conscious. Just as she was about to open the door to the hallway, Kiyomiko paused, a pair of scents reaching her nose. Old wood, paint, expensive weapons polish and ink.. ANBU. As soon as she noticed it, two figures appeared on the walkway to the backyard, looking into Kiyomiko's bedroom.

"You guys have good timing." Kiyomiko smirked half-heartedly, looking exhausted because of the heat. "Any sooner and you would have been accused of being perverts, spying on a little girl while she dressed."

"The Hokage is requesting your presence immediately." One of the ANBU agents said stiffly, ignoring her failing attempt at humor. The other one however, seemed younger, less experienced. His shoulders were trembling with barely hidden laughter.

"Alright, I'll go. Give me a second to leave a note." Kiyomiko sighed, looking around for a pad of paper and a pen, grabbing her pack in the process.

"_Immediately._" The agent pressed again with a warning tone. Kiyomiko raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at him, folding her arms across her chest with a rebellious stare.

"Fine, but if I get in trouble for leaving the house without telling anyone, I'll be blaming you guys." Kiyomiko grumbled as she left the room, walking out into the back yard and following the two ANBU agents back to the tower where Tsunade stayed. The sun was rediculously bright for how early it was and Kiyomiko swore she saw waves of heat rippling off of the rooftops.

Once she arrived the tower, Kiyomiko was led up two flights of spiral stairs that wrapped around the outside of the building and through a door into a hallway. The ANBU agents disappearing, Kiyomiko finished the last leg of her journey alone, walking up to a large wooden door and giving it a good knock. The last time she had been in this building was the day that the Third Hokage had allowed her to remain in the village, just before he died.. It felt strange, being back..

"Come in!"

"Ne, Tsunade, couldn't you have at least turned the air conditioning on before I came here?" Kiyomiko drawled faintly as she swung open the door and walked into a large room, huge windows lining the back wall behind Tsunade, who sat at her desk with Shizune standing at her side.

"Don't complain!" Tsunade snapped, fanning herself with a stack of official-looking papers, glowering down at a glass of water as the last ice cube melted. Kiyomiko sweatdropped as she walked closer, placing a finger on the outside of the glass with a sigh. Before her eyes, a thin layer of ice formed along the surface of the water and around the inside of the glass. Tsunade's mood seemed to improve slightly because of that. "Thank you.."

"So? What did you need that made you send ANBU goons to get me so early in the morning?" Kiyomiko sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "Yoshino will be pissed when she finds out that I left the house without telling anyone."

"I think she'll understand when you tell her what I'm about to tell you." Tsunade said, pulling a thin book from her desk drawer and passing it to Kiyomiko, a sheet of paper sticking out of the front cover. "The Third Hokage left a letter here on his desk the day he died. It seems he knew what was coming and he wanted to get his affairs in order beforehand. In that letter are various bits of information about the village, orders of things that needed to be changed, made better, that sort of thing. But, on the last page, he mentions you."

"Mentions me? What about me?" Kiyomiko raised an eyebrow, looking down at the little green book in her hand. On the cover, in black text, she read the words "The History of The Amatsuki Clan." Her eyes widened slightly and she looked up at Tsunade, who nodded.

"In his letter, he stated that he has passed the abandoned Amatsuki clan compound to you, since you are, by blood, related to them." Tsunade explained, looking exhausted as she laid out a map of the village on her desk, pointing to a large area near the edge of the village. "It's here, just to the east of the Hokage mountain and it spreads along the village wall towards the river. He's also requested that, if you choose to live in the compound, that you take the Amatsuki clan name."

"That book you're holding details all of the information we have on the Amatsuki clan. The Third Hokage put it together himself and asked that it be given to you as soon as a new Hokage was chosen." Shizune spoke gently, like she was choosing her words carefully. "As you can probably see, we're a little backed up around here."

"As far as what this means for your future in Konoha.." Tsunade began with a blank expression, a tingle of worry forming around all of the confusion that Kiyomiko felt. "If you _do_ choose to live in the compound, your weekly allowance will be raised and you will be responsible for repairing the compound for your own future use."

For a moment, only silence filled the room as Kiyomiko stared at the two women with a puzzled expression, question marks almost appearing over her head as she slowly processed the information that had just been thrust upon her. So.. They wanted her to move into an abandoned clan compound, take the clan's name, and fix up the compound.. At Kiyomiko tried to think through what had just happened, Tsunade sighed and slowly stood, walking over to the heavy wooden door behind Kiyomiko.

"Come on, let's take a short walk while you think about it." Tsunade said, not really suggesting it. Kiyomiko nodded once and followed the older woman, leaving Shizune complaining about how much work still needed to be done. Once they left the tower, they walked around the village quietly, Tsunade leading Kiyomiko down dirt roads, farther and farther away from the heart of the village. Kiyomiko just followed silently as Tsunade made pleasant obligatory conversation before they stopped in front of a high, cracked stone wall, a towering archway leading into a clan compound.

"I'm told that some of the village children use this area to test their courage, coming out here at night to scare themselves silly. It certainly seems like the proper atmosphere for it, especially at night." Tsunade sighed as they walked through the archway into the sprawling compound. It was like a miniature village in it's own right, rows of houses, shops and businesses. All of the buildings were falling apart, the once-paved roads cracked with weeds growing up between the dull grey paving tiles. It was so quiet.. "This place has been abandoned for the last thirty years.."

As they walked deeper into the compound, Kiyomiko came to a sudden stop as her eyes widened, staring at a section of stone wall that had been preserved through time. Painted on the wall was a clan symbol, a crescent moon with a cloud, the black paint only slightly faded. Kiyomiko stood still and Tsunade stopped as well, looking back over her shoulder with a curious expression as Kiyomiko quickly threw off her backpack and ripped it open, digging around inside it until she pulled out a worn wooden box.

"Kiyomiko? What's wrong?" Tsunade took a few steps back to Kiyomiko and knelt down beside the girl, watching as she opened the box to reveal the remenents of a fan, bladed metal spines broken and bent as well as the aged and torn paper that guided the wind. Carefully, Kiyomiko picked up one of the sharpened spines and held it up to the light, looking between the small piece of metal and the stone wall. Tsunade looked closely and her eyes widened as well, seeing the clan's symbol engraved on that worn metal, matching the symbol that was painted on the wall. "Where did you get that..?"

"It was the first thing my father gave me.. He led me into a room filled with weapons and told me to pick one.. This fan was the only thing I wanted.. It was beautiful, almost _calling_ to me.." Kiyomiko explained, her voice barely above a whisper. "I never knew that this was a clan symbol.. I always thought it was just part of a design.."

Gingerly, Tsunade reached down into the box and picked up the folded paper, careful not to tear it further as she opened it to look at the faded design on the inside. It was a grove of red spider lilies with a blue emperor butterfly perched on one of the flowers, the ink used to paint the design faded and white paper yellowed with time.

"This fan.. I've seen it before.." Tsunade said quietly, folding the paper up again and returning it to the worn wooden box. "It belonged to Aria, the last leader of the Amatsuki clan.. She disappeared thirty years ago, the same night that the entire clan just.. died.. They were a clan of healers, some of the smartest in the village and their techniques revolutionized medical ninjutsu.. No one knows where Aria went or how the rest of the clan died. The Third Hokage himself, a friend of Aria's, came here to look for her body but it was nowhere to be found.."

"Do you think that Orochimaru had something to do with it?" Kiyomiko asked, a combination of the intense heat and the flood of information making her feel sick. Everything was so bright, heat waves rolling off of everything like ripples through the air, the sun somehow bleaching out most of the world's colors.

"Considering how you managed to aquire that fan, I'm almost sure of it." Tsunade sighed, resting her hands on her hips as she turned to look down at Kiyomiko, a slight frown marring her features. "Take the rest of the day to consider your options, Kiyomiko. I'll expect an answer from you by sundown."

"Alright.." Kiyomiko nodded once, feeling a little numb as Tsunade turned and left, leaving the clan compound and walking back towards the Hokage tower. Kneeling down and slipping her belongings back into her bag, Kiyomiko stood and looked around. An entire clan had been wiped out in one night.. And now, all of a sudden, she was the only one left? Was it even right for her to be here, considering the manner in which she was related to them? Created with their genes, along with the genes of who knows how many others..

Kiyomiko's feet slowly began to move on their own, walking her around the compound as she hugged the green hard-cover book to her chest. It was so huge, with small ponds, a bridge over the river, there was even a bath house with it's own hotspring.. She had no idea how she would fix this place up, or even if she had any right to. This place felt... Strange. As if she were being watched by every shadow that the high-noon sun cast over the compound, Kiyomiko's eyes playing tricks on her as she saw shapes moving in her peripheral vision.

As if she were being guided or pulled in one direction, Kiyomiko walked across the compound until the dilapidated remains of a huge house came into view, standing tall over the others at one time but now the roof and walls were collapsing and crumbling. The front door was slid open, the melted remains of dropped candles scattered just outside the door. This must be the house that the village children used to test their courage, Kiyomiko surmised as she walked steadily closer, more curious than afraid. By the looks of the candles out front, the children had been too frightened to go inside and Kiyomiko wanted to find out what had scared them so badly.

With her heightened senses, Kiyomiko knew that she was the only person in the entire compound but as she walked closer to this one house, she wasn't so sure anymore, hearing faint noises that sounded remarkably like shuffling footsteps coming from the second floor. Slowing her pace, Kiyomiko peered inside the open door into the darkness of the ruined house, her pupil-less silver eyes narrowing slightly. Taking a single step inside, the shadows shielded her from the merciless sunlight and the temperature dropped to near-bearable as Kiyomiko's eyes adjusted to the darkness.

This place felt almost.. familiar. Kiyomiko rested a hand against her chest, over her heart, as so many confusing sensations rose to the surface. Despite all the ruin and rubble, she could still smell the polish on the hardwood floors, incense burning in the entryway and tea from the kitchen.. Had these scents soaked into the wood of the house, only to be brought to the surface on hot days like this? Was it her imagination, or was it something else? A strange chill ran down Kiyomiko's spine and she pushed it away, stepping further into the house, almost cautiously now as she silenced her footsteps.

Leaving the entryway, Kiyomiko walked into a long corridor that led through the house, dark wood-panelled walls and shoji-screens on either side of a large staircase leading to the upper floors. On the outside, the house had seemed to be in terrible shape but looking at it from the inside, the damage was almost minimal. Leaving faint footsteps in the dust that covered the floor, Kiyomiko walked through the long corridor, peering into the modest-sized rooms on either side of the hallway. On the first floor, there were three bedrooms, a sitting room that connected to the large garden behind the house, two bathrooms, a small dojo, and a kitchen large enough to cook for an army, an old fireplace sunken into the stone floor.

Walking into the kitchen, the scent of tea and dried herbs enveloped her as Kiyomiko inspected everything. Wooden counters and cabinets lined the walls and an old stone wood-burning stove sat near a door to the back garden. Inside the cabinets, Kiyomiko found clay cups, ceramic plates and bowls, old kitchen utensils covered in rust and grime. A soft creak from behind caught her attention and she turned to see a tall wooden cabinet that reached the ceiling, one of the doors slowly swinging open. Inside the cabinet, Kiyomiko could see that it stored dozens of dried herbs, tied into bundles with a thin white thread and hung on delicate metal hooks from the top of the cabinet. Making a mental note to inspect the herbs later, Kiyomiko left the room and returned to the corridor.

As she walked back towards the entryway, she began to feel another presence somewhere around her, almost as if it were following her movements step for step. Pausing when she reached the stairs, Kiyomiko looked up to the second floor landing and her eyes widened. A shadow had just moved! Forgetting her caution, Kiyomiko ran up the stairs, taking the steps in twos and threes as she reached the second floor. Had one of the village kids snuck into the house and gotten lost? No, she would have sensed them before now! This was something else entirely.

Stopping at the top of the stairs, Kiyomiko strained her senses and looked around, searching for any sign of movement. She was met with the sound of footsteps coming from a room near the end of the hall to her left and she took off towards it, her own footsteps loud against the creaking wooden floor. Reaching a sliding wooden door, Kiyomiko whipped it open and entered the large room to find it completely empty, devoid of people or animals. The room looked like it had been used as a bedroom, though who would need a bedroom this large, Kiyomiko didn't know. The floors were made up of stained tatami mats and the walls were made of dark wood panelling and yellowing plaster, a pair of sliding doors to her right which Kiyomiko assumed was a closet.

The temperature in this room was much cooler than the rest of the house, for reasons Kiyomiko didn't begin to comprehend. Crossing the room, she paused with her hands on the sliding doors, taking a steadying breath before she pushed them open. Instead of a closet, like Kiyomiko had been expecting, she saw a narrow staircase leading down into pitch black darkness, the scent of wood and dust rising to meet her. Something about this staircase made her uneasy. Why would there be another staircase to the second floor? And why was it so dark? Carefully lowering herself onto the stairs, Kiyomiko heard the sound of footsteps against old wood and she fought back a gasp, her heart thumping against her chest in a hurried rhythm. There was someone on the steps below her!

Just as she reached a landing where the first floor would be, the stairs continued downwards underground, the footsteps growing louder as if they were leading her somewhere. Taking another step, Kiyomiko heard another footstep that was not her own. Another step and another, Kiyomiko kept walking down the stairs until her foot lowered onto a step that was already broken, catching her by surprise. The next thing Kiyomiko felt was the sensation of falling into the darkness, followed by a sharp pain as she landed against stone, her head cracking against something hard as the world faded around her.

-(o.O)-

**History of the Amatsuki Clan**

Once rumored to be descendants of the Sage of the Six Paths, the first records of the Amatsuki Clan came to light during the beginning of the First Great Ninja War, their abilities primarily centered around the elements of wind and water. Considering themselves passive, the Amatsuki Clan remained neutral during the War, only arriving on a battlefield when the fighting had ceased, to aid the fallen warriors with their clan-specific healing abilities. Unlike any other large clan during that time, the clan leaders were always female and the entire clan was run in a similar, matriarchal fashion.

After the First Great Ninja War, the Amatsuki Clan was approached by the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan in an attempt to band together, to form the village later known as Konohagakure. However, the current clan leader, Amatsuki Choko, declined the offer by clearly stating that she did not trust in the Uchiha Clan leader, Madara. After that brief encounter, the Amatsuki Clan seemingly vanished for a number of years before resurfacing, appearing outside the gates of the now flourishing Konohagakure, a new clan leader, Amatsuki Fujiko, calling for an audience with the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. The reasoning behind this act is still unknown, however the First Hokage's personal records show that the Amatsuki Clan was significantly smaller than when he had last seen it, amounting to less than half of it's previous population.

After a lengthy meeting between the First Hokage and all of the Clan Leaders that had created Konohagakure, the Amatsuki Clan was finally accepted into the village. The First Hokage provided them with a large amount of land with which the Amatsuki Clan built their own small village near the outskirts of Konohagakure, opposite the Uchiha Clan compound. Over the years, the Amatsuki Clan remained withdrawn from the rest of the village until Amatsuki Mitsuko became the leader of the Clan, replacing Fujiko due to her failing health. At this time, Amatsuki Mitsuko worked together with the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama in his quest to create the now-current infrastructure of Konohagakure.

Highly praised as one of the best healers of the Amatsuki Clan, Mitsuko was tasked with teaching her medical ninjutsu to small groups of people, each group selected as representatives of their clans. Her techniques revolutionized medical ninjutsu, helping to transform it into what it is today. However, old suspicions had not faded over time. A group of Uchiha Clan members arrived at the Amatsuki Clan's gate, intent on learning Mitsuko's medical ninjustu until they were promptly turned away by Mitsuko herself, stating that the Uchiha Clan was not suited for her healing techniques. Outraged, the Uchiha Clan leader appeared before the Second Hokage, demanding that the Amatsuki Mitsuko be reprimanded for turning away his clan. As a result, Mitsuko stepped down from the position of Clan Leader in favor of her daughter, Amatsuki Aria, who was only sixteen years of age at the time.

Despite her young years, Amatsuki Aria was by far one of the best leaders the Amatsuki Clan had ever seen, using her vast intellegence and skill to rule with an iron fist. By this time, the Second Great Ninja War had begun and, just like before, the Amatsuki Clan refused to take part in the fighting, declaring that any and all members of the Clan were to remain far from the battlefields until the fighting had ceased. When asked to aid the war effort by the newly appointed Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Amatsuki Aria risked banishment from the village by ordering her entire clan to stay within the walls of the compound, denying the village, as well as dozens of field hospitals, of valuable healers during such a tumultuous time.

It was then, when the entire Amatsuki Clan was together, that disaster struck. During an attack on the village, the Amatsuki clan mysteriously died. Whole families were found in their homes, laying in their beds as if they had all died in their sleep, the true cause of death remaining unknown to even some of the best medical practitioners of the time. During the investigation, it was discovered that the entire clan was accounted for except for the Clan Leader, Amatsuki Aria. Believed to be alive, the Third Hokage sent out search parties to locate the woman, then eighteen years of age, however each team returned without finding any trace of Aria.

The entire village was shocked when the Third Hokage announced the deaths of the Amatsuki Clan, each clan mourning the loss of the greatest healers they had ever known. The Third Hokage, personally handling the funereal procedures of the entire clan, remained in mourning for a full month, as did the rest of the village. The remains of the Amatsuki Clan had been cremated and their ashes scattered in various rivers, as was part of their religious beliefs, their names written on a Memorial Rock in the center of their compound as casualties of war. To this day, the Amatsuki Clan compound remains empty and unused, protected by the Third Hokage from those who would encroach upon it's secrets.

-(o.O)-

"Oogh.." Kiyomiko groaned as she returned to consciousness, her pain-wracked body stiff and cold as she laid stretched out on something smooth and hard. Faintly, she could feel something wet and sticky against her face and she sighed mentally, carefully testing each joint systematically to make sure nothing was broken before she moved. Once she was satisfied, Kiyomiko slowly brought a hand up to her head, feeling the slick wetness beginning to dry and a sharp pain when she touched her scalp just above her right ear. Great. Just great. That would need stitches.

Slowly sitting up, Kiyomiko kept her eyes closed until she was sure that the room she was sitting in wasn't really spinning. Looking around, her eyes were met with a deep darkness that seemed to surround her like a smoke or a fog, the air smelling stale and old as if she were underground. Gradually, it all came back to her, the compound, the house, the footsteps she'd been following and she tensed, searching the room for any sign of a presence that was not her own. Amid the dusty furniture and wooden crates, there was nothing but the darkness, no traces that anyone had ever been here for a number of years. Pulling her sash from around her waist, Kiyomiko grabbed it with her teeth and tore it into a long strip, wrapping the thin fabric around the wound on her head before she slowly got to her feet.

Kiyomiko was pissed. Not only had she been woken up entirely too early, she had been carted off, into the bright sunlight when it was unbearably hot outside, forced to see Tsunade, who had dumped all this Amatsuki Clan crap on her, _and_ dragged her off to an abandoned compound and _left_ her here.. Now she had a painful wound on her head that required her to go back to the hateful hospital as well as the fact that she had no idea how far she had fallen beneath the abandoned house or how long she had been unconscious. This was not one of her better days.

With an annoyed sigh, Kiyomiko groped around in the darkness for her belongings, which had been scattered all throughout the small underground room due to the fall, stuffing everything back into her torn pack. But wait.. what had happened to that wooden box she'd had earlier? The box that Kiyomiko kept the remenents of her previous fan had disappeared. She didn't want to risk lighting a match here, considering how old the wood of this house was and how dry it had been over the last few days, but she really couldn't see anything with this darkness.

"_Yuki.. Is there anything you can do to help me out a little here?_" Kiyomiko sighed mentally as her eyes lost focus, pressing a hand against her aching head in an attempt to stop the ringing in her ears. "_Yuki!_"

There was no answer. Grumbling various obscenities, Kiyomiko closed her eyes and forced them to adjust to the darkness. It was a simple enough task for her, as something like this had been part of her training as a child, however it was time consuming and it would make her eyes sensitive to light for a while. After a few minutes had passed, Kiyomiko opened her eyes and looked around the room, now able to see a little bit better. At least, she was able to make out her surroundings in better detail, so she wouldn't bump into things.

Scanning the room, Kiyomiko located the staircase she had fallen down only to find that it had completely collapsed when she had fallen, only a few steps remaining near the second floor where she had come down. Fighting the rather tempting urge to thoroughly destroy this place, Kiyomiko summoned a small amount of her chakra and began scaling the stone wall, her feet sticking to the stone like glue until her chakra flickered out like a lightbulb and she fell back down, crashing to the ground in a heap.

"Dammit!" Kiyomiko growled as she sat up, glaring at the hole in the ceiling as if it had just insulted her honor. This day was just getting worse and worse. First, she hits her head and gets knocked unconscious and now Yuki won't even answer her. More importantly, what the hell was wrong with her chakra? Ignoring the pain, Kiyomiko hauled herself to her feet and tried again, summoning a small amount of chakra into her feet to scale the wall. Except nothing happened. It was as if she had no chakra at all. Wonderful. That bump on the head must have scrambled something in her brain.

Looking around the room once again, Kiyomiko searched for anything she could use to climb back up and out of this room, her eyes falling on a tall heavy-looking wooden cabinet on the far side of the room. Walking up to it, Kiyomiko felt as if she were walking into a freezer, the dank air getting colder and colder with each step she took. Finally reaching the cabinet, Kiyomiko paused for a moment as her fingers touched the wood. She had no idea what was inside this thing but for some reason, it felt wrong to move it. She didn't want to break anything.. It was best to check anyway, just to make sure if it was empty or not. Carefully, Kiyomiko pulled open one of the cabinet doors and a rush of cold wind surrounded her like a small tornado before it died away, leaving Kiyomiko startled and wide-eyed as she stared into the cabinet. What the hell?

Peering into the cabinet, Kiyomiko saw a collection of scrolls, neatly placed on stands that lined the cabinet shelves. They looked old, the scroll cases made out of some kind of silver metal and familiar-looking blue gem. Engraved into the silver metal was the crescent moon and cloud design, the Amatsuki Clan crest. With a sigh, Kiyomiko gently reached into the cabinet and paused, her hand hovering over one of the scrolls as if she expected it to bite her or something. When nothing happened, she carefully picked up the scroll, surprised by how light it was as she looked down at it in her hand. Yeah, these were probably _really_ important and she didn't want to break them and cause further damage.

Quickly locating a soft-looking surface, Kiyomiko set the scroll down, making sure that it wouldn't roll away. She did that with each of the eight scrolls, setting them down in the exact order in which they had been placed in the shelf in an almost superstitious manner. Just as she was setting down the last scroll, Kiyomiko froze when she felt.. something.. She couldn't explain it, it was a cold tingling feeling, like a feather being dragged across her skin except it was covering her entire body. It wasn't fear that she was feeling, it was just.. weird.

"What are you doing?"

Kiyomiko jumped and nearly dropped the scroll she was setting down, quickly grabbing it up and holding it to her chest as she whirled around to face the voice that had surprised her. Except, there was no one behind her. Dumb-founded, Kiyomiko stood there for a few moments while her brain ran through every logical explanation possible. There really weren't any logical explanations for hearing voices, unless her brain had gotten more scrambled when she fell than she had thought and now she was halucinating as well.

"Oie.. I'm up here.." Kiyomiko's silver eyes looked up towards the voice to see a head hanging upside down from the hole in the ceiling where the stairs used to be, a long curtain of silky black hair dangling from it's scalp. It was a girl! She was older than Kiyomiko, looking to be about seventeen or eighteen, her features soft and childlike, her eyes a pupil-less smokey grey. "You okay down there?"

"Uhm.. Yeah.." Kiyomiko blinked, quickly remembering herself and carefully setting down the scroll she had been clutching beside the others, finally completing the order in which they had been on the shelf. "Actually, no I'm not okay.. I seem to be having pretty much one of the worst days of my life and I'm kinda stuck down here.."

"Can't you just use your chakra to climb back out?" The girl asked, more of her figure becoming visible as she dropped down from the hole in the ceiling, landing on her feet like a cat before she stood and looked at Kiyomiko. She was slender, with a willowy build and she wore a plain-looking white wrap-around top with a pale blue sash and baggy charcoal grey shorts, her feet bare. She was looking at Kiyomiko with a puzzled expression as if the girl was trying to analyze her as she walked closer.

"No, I tried that." Kiyomiko sighed, feeling the onset of humiliation. "When I fell, I hit my head and now my chakra is acting all wonky. I can't seem to control it anymore, so I was going to try and climb on top of this cabinet to get up to the first floor.. But I didn't want to break anything, so I took the scrolls out first.."

"So you hit your head, huh?" The girl chuckled as she eyed the torn up sash around Kiyomiko's head. "I was wondering why you were wearing that thing. It looked pretty rediculous, especially when you have such pretty hair. Here, take it off and let me take a look at the wound."

Just as the girl reached out to untie the sash from around Kiyomiko's head, Kiyomiko took a sharp step backwards, her skittish nature kicking in before she could stop herself. The girl seemed startled for a moment and then a look of confusion crossed her childlike features. Kiyomiko sighed inwardly, reaching up to tug the bloody sash from her head, using it to wipe the drying blood from her ear and neck.

"Sorry about that.. I'm just kind of.. afraid of people, I guess." Kiyomiko sighed, avoiding the girl's gaze and looking down at the stone floor. "I usually don't let anyone touch me, not even the doctors or nurses at the hospital."

"Well, then why are you doing it now?" The girl asked, taking a step closer and weaving her delicate fingers into Kiyomiko's hair, inspecting the wound. "Yeah, that's going to need to be cleaned properly before you can get stitches.."

"I guess because I don't really have much of a choice in this situation. I can't get out of here by myself, as much as it kills me to say that." Kiyomiko grumbled quietly as she felt heat rising to her cheeks, folding her arms across her chest as the girl backed up with a knowing smile.

"So, you prefer to be independant, huh? You're an interesting kid." The girl chuckled, planting her hands on her hips as if she'd just accomplished a great feat. "Alright then! Since you're so interesting, I'll help you get outta here! But.. On one condition."

"What condition?" Kiyomiko raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the girl, a full head taller than she was. She didn't know if she liked the sound of conditions in exchange for her freedom, especially when she could just move the cabinet and climb out. But that was assuming that the cabinet would even reach the first floor landing.

"You have to go straight to the hospital to get your wound looked at _and_ you have to take those scrolls with you!" The girl gave Kiyomiko a playful grin when she pointed at the eight scrolls behind her, sitting on a dusty white cloth that had covered a crate.

"Eh? What would be the point of that?" Kiyomiko blinked, a little taken aback. "I mean, I'm fine with stealing stuff like food when I'm starving but I'm not going to steal those scrolls just because you tell me to. Especially since the people who own the scrolls are..."

Kiyomiko's annoyed expression fell away as she trailed off, replaced by a slight frown as she sighed, lowering her gaze to the ground once again. The girl blinked for a moment, apparently surprised by Kiyomiko's reaction before she sighed too, an exhausted grin appearing on her face as if she were saying 'what am I gunna do with you?' Gently, the girl rested a hand on Kiyomiko's shoulder, lowering herself down to Kiyomiko's eye-level.

"It's alright.. Kiyomiko-chan.." Kiyomiko's eyes widened when the girl said her name like that, in such a soft tone, like a mother speaking to her child. Before Kiyomiko could react, there was a flash of bright white light and the world faded again. When the light dimmed and Kiyomiko was no longer blinded, she blinked, her eyes wide as she looked around. She was outside! The sun was just beginning to set and Kiyomiko was standing outside the Amatsuki Clan compound, the cicadas buzzing and chirping loudly around her. "_Take them with you._"

"Eh?" Kiyomiko whirled around, hearing the girl's voice behind her but no one was there. Something shifted and Kiyomiko looked down to see all eight scrolls in her arms as well as the small wooden box that held the remains of her fan, the one that had gotten lost in that underground room when Kiyomiko had fallen through the stairs. What.. the hell.. was going on?

Without thinking, Kiyomiko's feet began to move and soon she was running. She had no idea where she was running, she just knew that she had someplace to be. Hugging the scrolls to her chest, Kiyomiko ran through the dirt roads until the hospital came into view and she came to a screeching halt, slowing her pace as she walked inside. Dammit! Why had she come here? No, better question, why had she felt the need to come here? She hated hospitals! But then the girl's words came back to her.. This was part of the deal in exchange for her freedom. Ugh. Fine..

After hailing a nurse, Kiyomiko was led into an examination room, the scent of antiseptics and cleaners nearly overwhelming Kiyomiko's already overwhelmed mind. Sitting down on a stool, Kiyomiko begrugingly allowed the nurse to treat her, her arms folded across her chest in a childish pout as the sliding door opened and Tsunade walked in, Shizune behind her. Tsunade almost chuckled when she saw the deplorable state that Kiyomiko was in, bruised and battered, covered in dust, watching the nurse with one eye closed and acting like a cat trying to escape a bath.

"So, what happened?" Tsunade asked with an amused smirk, dismissing the nurse and taking over treatment of Kiyomiko's wound.

"Well, I went into one of the houses near the far end of the compound and I was following the sound of footsteps when a staircase collapsed as I was walking down it." Kiyomiko explained half-heartedly, her mind still running through each memory, each action, each thought in an attempt to explain what had happened. "I couldn't get back out using my chakra, so I was gunna climb on top of a cabinet but a girl showed up and helped me out."

"How did she get you out?" Tsunade asked, threading a microscopic needle and beginning to stitch the gash on Kiyomiko's scalp closed.

"I don't remember." Kiyomiko's frown deepened as she stared at the floor. Tsunade's hands paused as she looked down at the girl's wound, which was already beginning to heal itself. "There was this bright light and then all of a sudden I was standing on the road with those scrolls, hearing that girl's voice but no one else was around.."

"Scrolls?" Tsunade asked and Kiyomiko nodded, pointing to an oddly-shaped bundle of cloth that stuck out of her pack on the floor. Shizune crossed the room and lifted the bundle out of the pack carefully, walking over to a flat surface and unfolding the cloth. When she gasped and took a step back, Tsunade turned to see what was wrong and her eyes widened. "How.. did you get those?"

"They were in the cabinet I was going to climb on top of.. I didn't want to break them, so I took em out first and I was setting em down as that weird girl showed up." Kiyomiko grumbled with a remarkable lack of tact, sounding rather like an annoyed Naruto. "She said she'd help me get out on two conditions, I had to go straight to the hospital to get my head looked at and I had to take those scrolls with me!"

"Kiyomiko, you're too young for these scrolls!" Tsunade suddenly stood up from tending to Kiyomiko's wound and crossed the room to the table where the scrolls sat, Shizune still standing frozen as she stared at them. Kiyomiko's eyes narrowed dangerously, a chill forming in the room. What was this feeling welling up inside her? Anger..? Why would she be angry all of a sudden? Okay, Tsunade declaring that she was too young for something irked her a little bit but.. Still, that didn't explain this sudden.. icy anger.. "I'll take these with me and keep them safe until I'm certain you're ready for them."

"I can't let you take them, Tsunade." Kiyomiko's voice turned into a growl as the girl stood up, the two women turning to look back, startled by the sudden change. It was almost as if Kiyomiko had changed into a different person altogether, one that Tsunade had only seen once, during the battle with Kabuto and Orochimaru. She wasn't a fragile child or an annoying genin anymore, she was every bit the monster that her father had trained her to be. "She gave the scrolls to me and I have to protect them!"

Tsunade and Shizune quickly stepped aside as Kiyomiko walked between them, gathering up the scrolls in her arms and wrapping them back up in the thin blue cloth, carefully putting them back into her bag. Kiyomiko seemed to calm down a little bit now that she had the scrolls back but still, her expression was still one of cold cruelty, as if she didn't care who got hurt in the process of her mission. Raising one hand, Kiyomiko reached up to her stitches and a healing green chakra flowed from her fingertips, the wound healing much faster than normal as Tsunade and Shizune watched, wide-eyed as the healing chakra flickered between green and white.

Once the wound was gone, no traces of it left, Kiyomiko wordlessly turned and left the room. She was tired, she was in pain, she was pissed off, all she wanted to do was go home, eat something and go to sleep again. Walking through the long corridors of the hospital, Kiyomiko sheilded her eyes from just about every light source available, her eyes still rediculously sensitive to light. She longed for her darkened room at the Nara house, the scent of earth and trees, Yoshino's expensive tea and Shikaku's cigarettes, hearing Shikamaru playing shogi in the sitting room. With a muffled groan, Kiyomiko remembered that she had been gone the entire day without leaving a note at the Nara house. Yoshino would be livid..

"Kiyomiko?" Kiyomiko blinked and her expression returned to normal as she turned to see who had called to her. Leaning against a doorway was Kakashi, looking remarkably casual without his green flak jacket on, like he was only wearing pajamas.. that had a mask. That's right, Kakashi and Sasuke were still in the hospital, recovering from Itachi's Tsukuyomi. "I thought it was you.. I haven't seen you in a while, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Kiyomiko answered shortly, her grip tightening around the strap of her pack slightly. Faintly, she detected Sasuke's scent coming from the room behind Kakashi and she took a few steps forward, brushing past the jonin without so much as a second glace as she entered the room. Sasuke was sitting up in his bed, staring down at a book as if he were reading but his eyes weren't moving. "Yo, Aho-Sasuke. I see you're just as bored by hospitals as I am."

"Kiyomiko?" Sasuke looked up as if he were surprised to see his teammate sitting down at his bedside, folding her arms across her chest as a ghost of a smile played across her features. She was covered in dust and dirt, her pale blue clothing now stained beyond recognition. "What happened to you? You look like you were dropped off a cliff."

"Yeah, don't I know it? I feel like it too." Kiyomiko sighed, clapping some of the dust from her clothes and revealing some of the bruises on her arms, stomach and legs in the process. "I went for a little stroll around the abandoned clan compound across the village, the Amatsuki compound. Tsunade-bachan wants me to fix the place up. Judging by how shoddy the stairs were, I'd say it needs some work."

"You fell down some stairs?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Kiyomiko nodded with a faint shrug. Kakashi walked into the room and sat down on the edge of a bed across from Sasuke's, suddenly seeming _very_ interested in this new turn of events, despite the fact that Kiyomiko was basically ignoring him and dodging him at every turn. "What did you tell her?"

"Correction, I fell _through_ some stairs, and I haven't told her anything yet." Kiyomiko sighed, stretching her sore arms above her head for a moment before she caught a glimpse of Kakashi in the corner of her vision. Without saying another word, Kiyomiko got up and grabbed the sliding curtain around Kakashi's bed, drawing it closed with a sharp snap, startling him. Now, blocked from view, Kiyomiko returned to a rather confused-looking Sasuke as she sat back down and folded her arms across her chest once more. "There's something else going on right now and I don't know if I want to have that kind of responsibility thrust on me like that."

"Well, if the Hokage asked you to do it, there must be a pretty good reason behind it." Sasuke sighed, sounding only half-interested in what he was saying. Kiyomiko's hands balled into fists as she lowered her gaze to stare at the floor. "Kiyomiko?"

"Probably to put a collar around my neck and parade me around in front of the village like a new pet." Kiyomiko sighed, apparently not making any sense to Sasuke at all as she stood. "Anyway, I'm heading back to Shikamaru's house. I've been staying there since.. well, since the end of the Chunin Exams. You should drop by when you get outta here, I'd love the chance to kick your ass at shogi."

"Hn. Sounds like a plan." Sasuke smirked as Kiyomiko grinned and waved over her shoulder, leaving the room and disappearing into the hall. As soon as she was gone, the curtain around Kakashi's bed withdrew and revealed an exhausted looking Kakashi, sitting cross-legged on the foot of his bed and scratching his head as he looked at the open doorway. "Kakashi-sensei, what was that all about?"

"I think I made her mad.."

-(o.O)-

When Kiyomiko finally returned to the Nara home, the sun had completely set and the moon was beginning to rise. The smell of Yoshino's cooking wafted around the house and Kiyomiko's stomach growled loudly but instead of going towards the kitchen, she disappeared down a series of darkened hallways and arrived in her bedroom a few minutes later. Stripping off her clothes, Kiyomiko quickly pulled on whatever outfit she had clean at the time, which happened to be a pale pink t-shirt that Yoshino had insisted upon and a pair of charcoal grey shorts. Quickly running her fingers through her long black hair, Kiyomiko pulled it back into a loose bun, her scalp still tender from the mostly-healed wound.

Once she was certain that she was presentable, Kiyomiko set her pack down on the desk carefully, looking down at it with a faint frown. The scrolls.. If Tsunade and Shizune had reacted to them in such a way, that meant they were dangerous. She couldn't keep them here with Shikamaru and his family when they could be in danger. She couldn't stay here.. Steeling her resolve, Kiyomiko stood, hiding her pack in a deep, dark corner of the closet for the time being as she left the room and walked towards the kitchen.

As she had been expecting, Yoshino was furious, going off on a tirade until she saw the bruises that covered Kiyomiko's body and the stony expression on the girl's face. Shikaku and Shikamaru looked up from their meals as Yoshino sat back down, looking up at Kiyomiko with a puzzled expression. This was it, no turning back. She had made her desicion and she couldn't back down now. She had to do this in order to protect them.

"I'm moving to the Amatsuki Clan compound in the morning." Kiyomiko stated flatly and Shikamaru dropped his chopsticks as his eyes widened slightly. Shikaku nodded once, his eyes understanding, as if he had somehow known that this would happen sooner or later. Yoshino was silent, her eyes wide and her face pale. Kiyomiko bowed at her waist, lowering her head to the entire family in a show of deep respect. "I want to thank you again for taking such good care of me when I had no where else to go. I hope that someday I'll be able to repay that kindness."

After sitting down to one last meal with the Nara family, Kiyomiko returned to her room and began to collect her things together. Somehow, during her brief stay with the Nara's, her belongings had tripled, probably due to Yoshino's subdued fawning, buying her clothes and fancy-looking accesories that Kiyomiko really had no taste for. Setting out one last outfit for tomorrow, Kiyomiko finally got everything packed away into the large white bag that she had arrived with just three months ago.

With everything packed away, Kiyomiko withdrew her black canvas pack from it's hiding place in the closet and tugged it over her shoulder, walking to the sliding door that led to the backyard and pushing it open as silently as possible. The air was much cooler than it had been during the day but it was still hot and humid, crickets were chirping noisily as Kiyomiko stepped outside and shut the door behind her. Feeling the presense of someone nearby, Kiyomiko stopped and turned to see Shikaku stepping out of the shadows, the smoke from his cigarette curling around him.

"Is this really something you want to do?" Shikaku asked, his rough voice level and laced with fatherly tones. Kiyomiko nodded, her features a mask of calm and steeled resolve. "Alright. I won't ask you to stay if you've got your heart set on leaving but you should already know that you're more than welcome to come back whenever you feel like it. Yoshino will miss you but I know she understands. Shikamaru too."

"I have to do this, Shikaku.." Kiyomiko began quietly, ignoring the dull ache in her chest as she looked up at the man who had saved her life after the attack on the village. "Please, take care of yourself on your missions and look after Shikamaru for me."

The man nodded solemnly and Kiyomiko turned and walked away, her feet guiding her away from the only true home she had ever known. It was late and the village was quiet, everyone had gone to sleep by now as Kiyomiko walked down the darkened dirt roads towards the Hokage tower. When she arrived, she spoke with a guard who let her inside and Kiyomiko followed her feet towards the familiar scent of the person she needed to see. Knocking on a heavy wooden door, Kiyomiko waited in the dark hallway, hearing a faint rustling coming from behind the door.

"What is it?" Tsunade's voice seemed sleepy and annoyed as Kiyomiko pushed the door open and stepped inside the dark room. It was Tsunade's quarters, walls lined with bookshelves stuffed with books on medical ninjutsu and other things. Tsunade was sitting on the edge of her bed, rubbing her eyes as she woke. When she looked up to see Kiyomiko standing at the door, she paused. "Kiyomiko?"

"I'll do it." Kiyomiko's eyes were hard as they stared at Tsunade, the deep shadows in the room giving the girl an almost haunted expression. This was for the best, Kiyomiko had decided, standing at her full height and holding her head high. Tsunade's eyes widened in understanding. "All of it."


	17. The Power Of Rage And Understanding

The next morning, Tsunade called the village together for an announcement. Standing atop the Hokage tower, with Kiyomiko at her side, Tsunade announced that Kiyomiko was the last surviving member of the Amatsuki Clan. Kiyomiko stood silent for the duration of the announcement, her head held high and her face expressionless. Shizune had dressed her up for the occasion, demanding that she look her best when Tsunade made the announcement. After much primping and preening, Kiyomiko finally looked like a proper young woman.

Her glossy black hair had been pulled up into a proper bun, her nails had been painted a deep blue, and she wore a small amount of make-up, a light grey-blue eyeshadow and a clear lipgloss, a faint tint of pink on her cheeks. She wore a long pale blue wrap-around dress with a deep blue sash around her waist, a matching pair of matching deep blue pants and sandals. Her forehead protector was tied around her neck and there was a clan symbol emblazoned on her back in deep blue silk thread. She hardly looked like herself. Kiyomiko could almost feel the collar tightening around her neck as she looked out at the crowd of villagers, looking back up at her with awe and curiousity. The younger generations didn't understand what being part of the Amatsuki Clan meant but the older generations, those who had lived to know of it, all looked up at Kiyomiko in shock when Tsunade had explained that Kiyomiko was Aria's daughter.

After the announcement had been made, Kiyomiko was led back inside for a meeting with the village elders and with the leaders of the other clans. In a remarkable show of refinement that seemed to shock even Tsunade, Kiyomiko followed all of the proper customs when greeting the clan leaders, bowing low and speaking as respectfully as possible. The parents of her friends were there, Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, Shibi, Tsume, Asuma was there as the current head of the Sarutobi Clan, with Kurenai as the head of the Yuhi Clan, even Hinata's father Hiashi was there, all of them representing their clans. There were others that Kiyomiko didn't recognize but she greeted them all the same way, her expression a mask of calm and gentility.

When all of the political posturing was over, Kiyomiko left the Hokage tower and walked the streets of the village, heading directly to the artisans' quarter with Tsunade and Shizune at her side. Meeting with every carpenter, craftsman and mason, Kiyomiko quickly arranged for the Amatsuki Clan compound to be restored to it's former glory, Tsunade paying for most of the work. After that, Tsunade and Shizune left Kiyomiko and went back to the Hokage Tower to handle some more paperwork as Kiyomiko walked alone. The first place she went was Ichiraku, the ramen stand where she had first met Naruto.

Naruto was there, sitting at the counter with a huge bowl of ramen sitting in front of him, yammering on happily as he talked with Ayame, Teuchi standing with his back turned as he prepared another meal. Kiyomiko walked in and the conversation abated as she sat down beside Naruto with an exhausted smile, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder. This was getting to be too much all at once.

"Ne, Teuchi.. I have a question for you." Kiyomiko spoke up, her mask of refinement falling as she returned to her old self again in the presence of friends. Teuchi turned and he paused when he saw Kiyomiko before a bright smile appeared on his face. "There's a building in the Amatsuki compound that seems perfect for a small restaurant. Would you be interested in using it?"

"Eh?" Teuchi seemed a little taken aback by Kiyomiko's question, even Ayame paused when she heard it. "I don't know, Kiyo-chan.. I couldn't leave this place, and wouldn't it be a little out of the way?"

"I'm not saying you should abandon this place, just suggesting branching out." Kiyomiko interjected, pulling out a map of the compound and laying it out on the counter in front of her. Teuchi leaned forward and looked down at it as Kiyomiko pointed to various locations of interest. "I've decided to allow people into the compound as if it were any other part of the village and I'm offering the same deal to a number of other shops as well. Suzume and Suzuki's teahouse, the Akimichi clan grocery, Inuzuka Veteranary, the Nara family's medicine shop as well as the Yamanaka flower shop, for example.. But you're the first person I've come to, I wanted you to have the first pick."

"But, if things go as well as you plan, wouldn't the cost to use one of your buildings be a little high?" Teuchi asked, his brows furrowing together slightly as he talked business with a child, something he obviously wasn't used to.

"No, because the building is free for you to use." Kiyomiko answered calmly, taking Teuchi and Ayame by surprise again. "All you would have to cover would be the supplies for the ramen as well as the personnel. Of course, you'd have to show up at the building you wanted and tell the work crew what you'd need. The crews start work a week from today, everything else has been taken care of."

"I..I don't know what to say.." Teuchi blinked, looking over his shoulder at his daughter, Ayame looking as if she'd just been handed a star for her birthday. "Ayame..?"

"Oh, come on! This is a great opportunity!" Ayame cried suddenly, a huge smile appearing on her face. "I could run the shop in the Amatsuki compound! I've been working here since I was a little girl and you've taught me everything you know! I know I can make you proud!"

"Take a few days to think about it." Kiyomiko said coolly, folding up the map and handing it to Teuchi as she stood up. "If you want it, you can find me in the compound. I'm staying at the small house by the front gate until the main house is completed."

With that, Kiyomiko paid for Naruto's ramen, just as she usually did, and she left, disappearing down the street on her way to market row. Over the course of the next few hours, Kiyomiko made the same offer to a number of different businesses in the village. The Yamanaka Flower shop, Suzume's teahouse, the grocery owned by Chouji's family, Kiba's sister Hana's veteranary clinic, the village's bath house, the Dragon Forge where she had gotten her fan remade, even the dried foods vendor that Kiyomiko often frequented. When she was finished on market row, Kiyomiko walked down the familiar dirt roads towards a quiet place of the village, stopping in front of a familiar house that smelled like the forest.

Walking up to the Nara house, Kiyomiko smoothed her hair and clothes, trying to improve her appearance before she knocked on the door. Almost right away, she heard footsteps coming to open the door and her heart skipped a beat. What if Shikamaru answered? What would she say? How would she explain? How _could_ she explain..? But when the door opened, it revealed a somber-looking Shikaku, holding an unlit cigarette in his hand. He looked sleepy and he smelled like sweat. He must have just returned from a mission.

"Could we talk?" Kiyomiko asked, looking up at the man as she pulled a folded map from her sleeve. Shikaku nodded and opened the door for her, the pair walking into the house and down the hall to Shikaku's personal study, a room that not even Shikamaru and Yoshino were allowed inside. Low bookshelves lined the back wall and a few ink-prints of various forest scenes lined the walls, a low table sat in the middle of the room with a few cushions sitting around it with a red clay ash tray on the table.

"What can I do for you?" Shikaku asked, gesturing for Kiyomiko to sit down at the table as he knelt down on one of the cushions across from her. Kiyomiko sat and laid out the map in front of her for Shikaku to see as he lit his cigarette, leaning forward to study the map with mild interest. "What's this?"

"The compound." Kiyomiko answered, her delicate hand pointing to one of the larger buildings along a row of smaller shops near the front gate. "That building there has been reserved for your medicine shop. It's one of two buildings in the entire compound that have been declared off-limits, the other being my house. Everything has already been paid for, work crews are scheduled to repair it starting next week. All you would have to do is handle your stock and personnel. There's no fee for using the building, in fact there's even an apartment upstairs if you want to rent it out."

"You really are something else, you know that?" Shikaku chuckled, sitting back and taking a drag from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke upwards.

"Eh?" Kiyomiko paused and looked up at the man, blinking a few times as a puzzled expression appeared on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, nothing." Shikaku chuckled again and shook his head, waving her off before a warm smile spread across his face, something that Kiyomiko had never seen before. "I would be happy to take you up on your offer, Kiyomiko. I'll stop by the compound to check out the building before the work crews arrive. I trust that I'll see you there, in the compound?"

"Yes, I'm staying at the small house here, by the front gate until repairs on the main house have been completed." Kiyomiko answered with a slight smile, showing Shikaku where her house was on the map. "It was the least damaged of all the buildings. Just needed to be cleaned up a bit."

"Alright, I'll be sure to stop by and say hello when I come to see the building." Shikaku nodded before he chuckled again. "I'm sure Yoshino will be sending me off with a portable feast for you, with all her worrying over whether you're eating properly."

After visiting for a little while longer, Kiyomiko said her goodbyes to Shikaku and left the house. The sun was just beginning to set on the first day of her life as the last member of the Amatsuki Clan and it seemed to have gone relatively well. Moreso than she had been anticipating. Walking around the village for a little while longer, Kiyomiko took care of a little more business relating to the compound, stopping by the aviary before she returned to the compound, to the small, dark house that had become her temporary home. It was a far cry from what she was used to but.. it would do.

-(o.O)-

The next week flew by in a blur of faces, meeting with the work crews, masons and craftsmen, as well as all of the shop owners that Kiyomiko had approached exactly seven days ago. When she wasn't meeting with work crews, Kiyomiko was tending to the gardening and greenery around the compound, making the compound seem more like a giant garden than a clan compound, since there was no clan anymore aside from her. This was a public place now and even the sign at the giant gate had been changed, now saying "Garden District, The Former Home of The Amatsuki Clan.". It had been a change that many people had raised a few eyebrows at but here, Kiyomiko was the boss and they all respected her wishes.

When she wasn't meeting with people or working in the gardens, Kiyomiko was at the cave in the forest outside the village, training her friends in various forms of taijutsu. Everything had been going surprisingly well, their skills were improving greatly as they learned new techiniques during the week and battled each other during the weekend as a sort of passing exam. At the end of each session, Kiyomiko would pull Lee aside and tend to his steadily-healing wound and Ino and Sakura would express interest in learning medical ninjutsu, which Kiyomiko promptly denied. She wasn't as good at healing as her new clan had been, telling the two girls to speak with Tsunade if they really wanted to learn.

One morning, Kiyomiko was awoken by a sharp knock on the door of her temporary house and she rolled out of bed with a groan. The sun had just risen over the horizon and a thin mist hung in the air, crickets chirping faintly nearby. Slowly, Kiyomiko got out of bed and pulled a thin robe around herself, threading her fingers through her hair until she was at least mostly presentable. The world was tinted red by the morning sunlight and the smell of rain travelled on a cool breeze. Summer was coming to an end and autumn was on it's way, the tips of the leaves were already beginning to turn colors.

Walking to the entryway of the small house, Kiyomiko opened to door to reveal Kakashi standing there, leaning against the doorframe holding up an envelope. For a second, Kiyomiko blinked as she looked up at him, then at the envelope before snatching the paper away and shutting the door without inviting him in. Walking into the sitting room that doubled as a bedroom, Kiyomiko knelt down on a cushion beside a low table in the center of the room, hearing the front door open behind her, Kakashi chuckling nervously as he stepped inside. Ignoring him, Kiyomiko looked over the envelope and she could detect the scent of cinnamon and cloves coming from the paper. Gaara had replied to the letter she had sent him last week.

"So, I take it you're still mad?" Kakashi asked, walking into the room and taking a seat across the table from Kiyomiko, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Your powers of perception are truely staggering." Kiyomiko drawled as she set the letter on the table and stood, walking a short distance to something that might have passed for a kitchen in some third world country, pouring water into a tea kettle and setting it on a rediculously old looking stove, grabbing a clay mug from a cabinet and fishing for some dried herbs in a drawer.

"Well, would you mind enlightening me? I don't know what I did to upset you.." Kakashi asked, looking a bit confused. Kiyomiko stopped what she was doing and gently set down the clay mug with a delicate click.

"You don't know what you did to upset me..?" Kiyomiko almost sounded amused but when she slowly turned around to face Kakashi, he saw that she was anything but amused even though she was smiling. In the past, he had only seen Kiyomiko make this face once and he hadn't been in a hurry to see it again. Kiyomiko was scary when she got like this, even for a little girl. "Okay, scratch what I just said about your powers of perception.. They _suck!_"

"Hey, come on now.. At least tell me what I did wrong!" Kakashi sighed, watching as Kiyomiko turned back to the stove, pulling the kettle from the burner and pouring the hot water into the clay mug, tossing some herbs into a strainer and dunking it into the boiling water.

"How about making promises you couldn't keep? Let's start with that one." Kiyomiko sounded completely cheerful but Kakashi could almost see the waves of irritation and annoyance rolling off of her. "Or maybe we should start with how you abandoned me when I needed you most. That sounds good too."

"What are you even talking a-"

"I'm talking about how you _promised me_ that you'd be there for me and then you _left me alone_ to go off and train with Sasuke for a month without even telling me, _right_ when the Third Hokage was going to decide what to do with me!" Kiyomiko shouted into the wall, her delicate hands gripping the edge of the counter so tightly, Kakashi could hear the wood cracking. "And don't you _dare_ say that it turned out fine, because I had no way of knowing whether he was going to throw me out, lock me up or kill me! I _needed_ you and you didn't even tell me you were leaving even though you told Naruto and Sakura!"

"There wasn't a whole lot of time-" Kakashi tried to defend himself but his sentence fell short.

"Oh, don't give me that!" Kiyomiko growled, turning around to face the man who was supposed to be her teacher. Her pupil-less silver eyes were as sharp as steel when she looked at him, taking him by surprise. No one had ever looked at him like that before, not even his enemies. "The truth of it is that you didn't trust me, did you? You found out what I was and you thought I'd rat you out!"

"Wait wait, _what_ you are..? What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked as Kiyomiko forced herself into a cold, barely contained calm. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees and Kakashi felt it, not understanding what it meant. He had no idea just how much Kiyomiko had grown since he'd last seen her.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot you were laid up in the hospital." Kiyomiko grumbled, folding her arms across her chest as she glared at Kakashi. "While you were resting semi-peacefully, I was off looking for Tsunade with Jiraiya and Naruto. I saw Orochimaru and got my _ass handed to me_! By his lackey, Kabuto, no less! But not before Orochimaru told me that I'm not really his daughter! Noooo, I'm his damned clone, a genetic experiment that he kept around _as a joke_!"

Kakashi had no idea how to respond to the information that Kiyomiko had just thrust upon him but he was beginning to see why she was so angry with him. Ignoring him again, Kiyomiko turned and picked up her tea, the green liquid freezing the instant her hand touched the mug. With a colorful curse that Kakashi was surprised Kiyomiko knew, the girl half-tossed the clay mug into the sink and stalked off into the other room, leaving Kakashi sitting at the table wondering just what the hell was going on. Not just where Kiyomiko had gone but also how had that boiling water frozen in her hands?

When Kiyomiko returned, she was fully dressed and Kakashi's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. Kiyomiko was wearing a pale pink dress that hugged her slender figure as well as a pair of charcoal grey shorts and a pair of strappy feminine sandals, her forehead protector tied loosely around her neck, two silver bangles wrapped around her wrists. Her long black hair had been pulled up into a long ponytail, her bangs framing her face. Kakashi could swear that he even saw her wearing make-up. She looked like any other normal girl from the village, almost like a doll, except for the silently seething expression.

"So, not only do you wear dresses now, but you're okay with wearing pink?" Kakashi asked carefully as Kiyomiko crossed the room towards the front door.

"Don't push your luck." Kiyomiko growled, the temperature in the room dropping so sharply that a glass near the sink cracked. Without another word, Kiyomiko wrenched open the front door and disappeared outside.

"Kiyomiko! Wait!" Kakashi got up and started to follow her when he hesitated, seeing a thin layer of ice on the handle of the door. What the hell..? Hurrying out the door, Kakashi saw Kiyomiko stalking deeper into the compound as Shikaku walked towards the house, pausing for a moment when he saw Kiyomiko's expression, glancing behind her to see Kakashi. The man sighed and let Kiyomiko go, Kakashi coming to a stop in front of the jonin.

"I don't envy you." Shikaku sighed as Kiyomiko disappeared around a corner, the red morning sunrise burning away the mist that hung in the air. "That girl is stronger than any genin or chunin I've ever seen, even at such a young age. It must be difficult to be her teacher, especially when you're so busy."

"What are you saying?" Kakashi sighed, looking in the direction where Kiyomiko had disappeared. Shikaku just shook his head and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, following Kakashi's gaze.

"I'm saying that you missed a lot while you were away, Kakashi." Shikaku began, lighting the cigarette calmly. Kakashi frowned, looking at the man beside him as he started to walk back towards the front gate. "A lot has happened and you should probably know that Kiyomiko is steadily growing stronger, as well as many of the other genins that she's friends with. My son included."

Kakashi watched the man leave and he turned to look back in the direction where Kiyomiko had disappeared, a sense of unease developing within him at Shikaku's cryptic words. Just what had he been saying? What had Kakashi missed? After he'd returned from his month of training with Sasuke, Kiyomiko had called him a liar and taken off before he could ask her what was wrong.. And then after the attack on the village, rumors ran wild but there was nothing that he could really rely on. Kiyomiko had disappeared by the time he'd gone to see her in the hospital and when he went to go find her, he'd found Uchiha Itachi instead, winding up in the hospital himself for a number of months while he and Sasuke recovered..

Even now, Kakashi had no way of knowing what had happened while he'd been away from Kiyomiko without asking the girl directly. With a slight sigh, Kakashi started walking towards where Kiyomiko had disappeared, following a trail of melting frost on the dirt roads that led him out of the village and up a steep hill to the entrance of a cave, a deep chill emenating from within.

-(o.O)-

Kiyomiko stood motionless in the center of the training cave, her eyes closed and her breathing deep and even. No one else was around, so it was safe for now, she wouldn't be seen and she wouldn't hurt anyone. Anger, pure and white-hot, bubbled to the surface and thick sheets of jagged ice began to form around her feet, radiating outwards in a circle to slowly encompass the entire cave, freezing anything and everything in it's path. She didn't care how much chakra she was using up, she just needed to let everything out. All of the anger that Kiyomiko had been holding, all of her emotions, were let out in a torrent of chakra, a white-blue glow screaming around her in thin tendrils, slashing at the walls like ribbons of steel. She focused her energy on a mental image of Orochimaru's face and her hands balled into fists, the temperature in the cave dropping to well below freezing in the space of a few seconds.

Slowly, Kiyomiko crouched low, bringing her hands into a position like they were weapons as claws of ice formed over each fingertip, razor sharp and glinting dangerously in the dim light before ice covered over the small hole in the cave's ceiling, blocking out any natural light. All that was left was the blue torches along the walls and the white-blue glow of Kiyomiko's chakra. Gradually, a low and dangerous growl rumbled from Kiyomiko's throat as she opened her eyes. Her ice had formed frozen target dummies with Orochimaru's face, effigies for her to take her anger out on and a dangerous glint flickered in Kiyomiko's eyes as ice slowly coated her skin, encasing her completely.

In a flash of movement too fast for the untrained eye to see, Kiyomiko lunged into attacks, savagely tearing apart any and all things with Orochimaru's face like a small demon. When they gave her no satisfaction, Kiyomiko used her chakra to jump straight upwards into the few remaining stalactites and she sliced them into pieces with her claws, leaving deadly-looking slashes in the bare stone face of the ones that didn't immediately fall to the cavern floor. There was a faint rumbling that grew steadily louder and Kiyomiko landed in the center of the cavern again, looking towards the underground spring, the ice causing it to gradually build up pressure like a dam. When the ice cracked and the water burst forth, Kiyomiko was ready for it, taking that water and using the raw chakra that surrounded her to freeze it instantly, guiding it in circles around the room as it grew and grew, coiling it upwards around the cavern walls like a dragon had burst forth, reaching upwards towards the hole in the cavern's ceiling.

When the rumbling finally died down, Kiyomiko stopped, the ice around her body slowly receeding back into her skin as she dropped to one knee, panting as she fought to keep herself upright. Truth be told, she had no idea how she had managed to do so much with so little of Yuki's chakra but it didn't matter to her. She felt better and she hadn't hurt anyone, that was all she cared about. Though, explaining the sudden appearance of a dragon made out of ice in the training cave may prove troublesome.. Kiyomiko chuckled weakly at the thought, picturing the stunned, goofy faces of her friends. Naruto would probably freak out and think it was a real dragon.

Just then, Kiyomiko heard the ice crack in the corridor behind her and she whirled, using the lack of friction on the ice to crouch low into a defensive stance in one fluid movement, bringing her hands up like claws as she faced the person behind her. It wasn't one of the Konoha Rookies, they all knew to use the tunnel from the Forest of Death. Gradually, a familiar silhouette came into view, slowly walking towards her and into the light. Kiyomiko's eyes widened when she locked eyes with Kakashi's sharingan, her own sharingan blooming in her eyes reflexively, panic gripping her insides as he came to a stop a few feet in front of her.

"How did you find me?" Kiyomiko gasped, her voice weak as it echoed against the ice-covered walls, her deep red eyes wide in surprise and a flicker of fear.

"I followed the trail of frost and ice from your house." Kakashi answered, folding his arms across his chest as he looked down at her, still crouched with her small hands brought up like claws. "I knew that you were able to create ice with your chakra since the survival test after your graduation.. But I never suspected that you had grown this strong.."

Kakashi looked around at the state of the cavern around him, blue torches casting a haunting glow across the glittering ice, a thin mist curling around the floor. Kiyomiko didn't move, her eyes still wide as she stared at Kakashi, not sure if she could fully trust him. Especially with something like this. Even her friends had no idea that she was this strong now. Only Yuki, the spirit within her, knew about this and it was because of him that she was this strong. Kiyomiko had been coming out here and training alone every day, pushing herself to the limit and using Yuki's chakra as if it had been the air she needed to breathe and Yuki had been guiding her, preparing her for the day when she would release him, making sure that she wouldn't die from breaking the seal.

"There's a lot about me that you don't know.. We're shinobi, after all.. In this world, knowledge is power and information is currency.." Kiyomiko breathed, repeating the words that she had said to Kakashi when he had found her in the moonlit garden a week after she'd been assigned to his team, lowering her hands to the surface of the ice. Kakashi's gaze returned to her and Kiyomiko deactivated her sharingan as a test, to see what he would do. If he attacked, she would run, forcing chakra into her legs and bursting through the ice that covered the hole at the top of the cave. From there, she would run. It was a simple enough plan. "But I wonder if you would even want to know? Would you hate me because of it, would you pity me, or would you fear me?"

There was a long silence between the two of them, neither of them speaking. Kiyomiko's expression was blank, as if she were waiting for any sign of aggression before she ran. Kakashi studied her with his sharingan, seeing the faint tremble of fear that she was attempting to hide. She was afraid, even when she was this powerful? Afraid of what? Him? Or him knowing her secret? After a while, Kakashi sighed softly and reached up to his face, bringing his forehead protector down in a slant to cover his sharingan before he sat down on the surface of the ice in front of Kiyomiko, folding his arms across his chest as he stared at her, his expression hard, what little of it that could be seen, anyway.

"There's only one way to really find out." Kakashi answered. Kiyomiko blinked for a second before her eyes narrowed slightly. Gradually, her position relaxed enough that she sat down on the ice as well, mimicking Kakashi's position as she stared right back at him. "Why don't we start over? This time, you should tell me everything about yourself, including what I missed while we've been apart."

"Fine." Kiyomiko said shortly, giving a faint sigh before she steeled her resolve and began to tell the jonin everything, starting with her first memories as a child. She explained how she had lived with Orochimaru under the belief that he was her father, how he had raised her, trained her, experimented on her and then tried to kill her. She told him about how she had survived on her own, killing all of the mercenaries her father sent after her, stealing food to keep herself alive, travelling from village to village as a way to learn their secrets, their techniques so she could one day kill Orochimaru for what he had done to her. She went on to mention that the same had been true of Konoha until Shikamaru and the others had found her, that the village had meant nothing to her until that moment when she had finally begun to relate to another human being, if that's what she really was. She even told him about the two mercenaries that Gatoh had hired to kill Tazuna and his family in the Land of Waves and how she had killed them without batting an eyelash.

Kakashi listened to her every word as she continued, an acidic tone to her voice as she explained everything that had happened during the Chunin Exams, everything he had missed during that month when he had been away with Sasuke and everything that had happened during the trip to find Tsunade. How she had stopped Itachi and Kisame from taking Naruto until Jiraiya showed up, how she had killed a man that had tried to rape her in an alley, how she had told Naruto who she was, how she had finally found Orochimaru only to fail miserably at killing him, nearly dying in the process herself. She told him of the three weeks she'd been unconscious in the hospital, about how her friends had approached her and told her that they knew everything about her, about how they had asked her to train them so that together they might be strong enough to kill Orochimaru, and about how she had been so suddenly thrust into the world of politics by assuming the role of the last survivor of the Amatsuki Clan, simply because of her father's genetic experiments.

When she had finally stopped speaking, her voice was weak and raspy but she hadn't moved a muscle the entire time she'd been telling Kakashi everything and neither had Kakashi. He had sat there listening to her the entire time without looking away, even when she had given him details that some would shy away from. A deep chill remained in the room, seeping into Kiyomiko as if it had been there all along but she didn't mind it. It steadied her, kept her cold and numb so she wouldn't feel as though her heart were being crushed by the weight of her sins or by the weight of the memories that haunted her every night, even now. The ice kept her strong but it appeared to be having the opposite effect on Kakashi. She could barely see it but he was shivering, his breath visible in the air in front of him. Wordlessly, Kiyomiko stood and held her arms out wide, mentally calling the ice back to her as if it were a long lost friend.

Cracks in the ice began to appear and Kakashi looked up sharply as it began to break apart above them, shielding himself with his hands as he expected the ice to come crashing down on him. But instead of the pain he'd been expecting, he felt a soft tingling sensation across his body that caused him to look up. Instead of the jagged spears of ice he'd seen a moment ago, he saw snow. The cave was completely free of ice and Kiyomiko was gathering it into a ball of snow, slowly lowering it into the small pond of frozen water. The ground rumbled slightly when it touched down and Kiyomiko released a breath she'd been holding, swaying slightly as if she were dizzy or drunk before she caught herself. Walking over to a nearby shelf made of carved stone, Kiyomiko gathered some matches and an armfull of firewood, dropping the pile in the sunken firepit in the center of the cave.

Kakashi watched as Kiyomiko quickly nursed a fire to life and his eyes widened when the orange flames lit the room. He hadn't noticed it when the room had only been lit by blue torches, thinking it had been a trick of the light but Kiyomiko's lips were a pale blue, delicate veins of frost surrounding her eyes as if she had been frozen. He suddenly stood up with a start, walking around the fire and kneeling down on front of him, feeling fear for the first time since coming here. She didn't back away like he'd seen her do time and time again, instead she just stared up at him blankly, her eyes almost hollow. Her skin was freezing cold but she wasn't shivering at all, showing absolutely no signs of ill health as she stood there for his inspection. Logically, she would be dead right now, frozen to death..

"This is the last secret I have to tell." Kiyomiko began, her voice returning to normal as she closed her eyes for a moment, her hand reaching up to tug the fabric of her dress down just slightly, enough to expose a patch of skin over where her heart was. Raising one hand, Kiyomiko channelled chakra into it and a tattoo became visible on the skin over her heart, a pale white-blue chakra snaking across her skin in delicate swirls and circles. It was a seal! "I have a spirit sealed within me, like Naruto and Gaara, except my spirit isn't one of the Tailed Beasts. It's an elemental of wind and water. He heals me and protects me from the cold. Now.. I'm immune."

"My god.." Kakashi breathed, looking over the girl who was supposed to be his student as the frost around her eyes began to melt, looking like tears as droplets of water rolled down her cheeks, her lips returning to a gentle pink tint, the heat from the modest fire slowly warming her body. Tugging her dress back into place, Kiyomiko opened her eyes, her appearance exactly the same as it had been when he had first seen her that morning, her hands returning to the normal temperature of a living human being. "How long have you been able to control it..?"

"Since just after the Second Exam. I found out that the voice in my head wasn't some kind of mental illness, that it was the spirit inside me." Kiyomiko said flatly, turning away from Kakashi as she sat down, facing the fire. She raised one hand slowly, to to show Kakashi as a thin layer of crystal clear ice formed over her skin, glittering in the firelight. "He's been protecting me since I was an infant, helping me, healing me. It was because of him that I was able to survive so many things."

Kakashi was silent for a long while and slowly the ice armor receeded back into Kiyomiko's skin as it always did. Kakashi sat down beside the fire as Kiyomiko hugged her knees to her chest, her pupil-less silver eyes reflecting the haunting orange glow of the firelight. Gradually, Kakashi's shivering subsided and the only sound between them was their heartbeats and their breathing.

"Kiyomiko.. I'm.. sorry that I wasn't around.." Kakashi said quietly, turning to look at the girl that sat beside him. "I should have done things differently, should have been there for you like I promised."

"It's alright now." Kiyomiko sighed, her tone gentle and soft as her eyes began to slowly close. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw a smile form on her face, a genuine smile that he had never seen before and certainly hadn't been expecting now. However, he didn't have long to enjoy it, as soon as he saw it, it faded as Kiyomiko's expression went blank and she swayed.

Kakashi acted quickly, holding an arm around Kiyomiko to catch her before she fell. Carefully pulling the frail-looking girl into his arms, he looked her over for any signs of illness, checking her temperature and her pulse. She was hot like she had a fever and her pulse was racing, a cold sweat beginning to form on her brow. Just as panic began to set in, Kakashi realized what had happened. She hadn't fully recovered from her battle with Orochimaru, her chakra system was inbalanced and she had just used up a frightening amount of chakra all at once. Getting to his feet, Kakashi carried Kiyomiko in his arms and left the cave, running towards the only place he could think of.

-(o.O)-

Ugh... What happened? Kiyomiko sighed and kept her eyes closed, her body feeling stiff and numb again as she tested each joint systematically. She wasn't wounded, so that was good. The scents in the air told her that she was at home, though there was still a heavy smell of antiseptics. Someone had cleaned. Slowly opening her eyes, Kiyomiko looked around the room to see that she was laying on a futon in her house, a few candles lit around the room. Beside her, she saw Kakashi leaning against a wall, much like she had done when he had been ill in the Land of Waves. Although, it looked like he was asleep, his green flak jacket hung on the back of a nearby chair.

Slowly sitting up, Kiyomiko pulled the blankets aside and carefully stretched her limbs before she stood up. She was still wearing the dress from earlier, although her bracelets and sandals had been taken off before she'd been put to bed. Grabbing a few things from her futon, Kiyomiko carefully set a pillow behind Kakashi's head and laid a thin blanket over him. Despite all that had happened between them, he had still been kind enough to bring her home instead of taking her to a hospital. But there was another scent in the room, so faint that Kiyomiko had barely noticed. Sake and medicinal herbs. Tsunade had been here, a fact which she confirmed by looking at the table and finding a scrap of paper with the woman's handwriting on it. So, Kakashi had brought her home and then called for Tsunade? That explained the smell of cleaning supplies.

Beside Tsunade's note was the envelope Kakashi had brought before, Kiyomiko had left it on the table when she stormed off without really thinking. Sitting down on one of the cushions around the table, Kiyomiko picked up the envelope and opened it, pulling out the letter and starting to read. It was from Gaara, his handwriting was bold but elegant at the same time, something Kiyomiko liked.

_Kiyomiko,_

_I recieved your letter this morning. I was rather surprised by the news, about you being an Amatsuki. Truth be told, when I first met you in Konoha before the Exams, I believed you to be an Uchiha because of your likeness to Uchiha Sasuke.. However, I found no evidence to support this theory, so I let it go._

_To answer your question, things in Suna have been going well, or as well as can be expected. I have decided to change the way I live my life, using my abilities to protect instead of harm, much like you and Naruto. The change will not be readily accepted by most in the village, however I will keep trying. I must believe that they will see the change in me and forgive me for the sins I have committed, as I have forgiven them for their fear of me. I have chosen not to be the monster that I was in my past._

_Also, I've been hearing rumors that someone has been using back-channel methods in an attempt to gain information about an ice-user. A young girl. I thought it may have been you the rumors were talking about, so I thought I should pass along the message. "Summer is searching for Winter." That's the message that's been passed around among the less favorables of Suna. According to one of said "less favorables", that message has been passed around for a number of weeks._

_As far as the business plan you mentioned in your letter, Temari has spoken with the man in question, Atsushi Daiki, and he has agreed to your proposal. He will be sending a number of boxes to Konoha, along with his young nephew to help out and make repairs. According to Temari, the nephew is somewhat useless at almost everything, although he knows his trade. He, and the supply, should arrive in Konoha a week after this letter._

_Take care of yourself and watch over Naruto,_

_Gaara_

"Kakashi!" Kiyomiko's eyes were wide when she finished the letter, quickly standing up and crossing the room to wake Kakashi. Atsushi Daiki's nephew was coming! "Wake up! I need to know how long I've been asleep!"

"Hn..? Oh, you're awake." Kakashi mumbled as he woke, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up and looked at Kiyomiko. "You've been asleep for about a week, if memory serves. Tsunade said that you need to stay in bed and rest."

"A week? Oh, like hell I'm gunna stay in bed!" Kiyomiko scoffed, standing up and jogging into the next room to change. It was still early, so she had a little time left but she still had to hurry. Quickly, Kiyomiko stripped off her wrinkled clothes and tossed them into a basket, threading her fingers through her long ink black hair to smooth it down her back. Grabbing the closest outfit she could find, Kiyomiko yanked on some full-body fishnet, a pair of pale blue shorts that gathered just below her knees, a charcoal grey tunic with a high collar like Sasuke's and cropped sleeves. A pale blue sash hugged her hips and her forehead protector was tied around her upper arm, along with a pair of matching charcoal grey ankle-high sandals and fingerless gloves.

"Kiyomiko? What's wrong?" Kakashi asked as Kiyomiko hurried out of the room and into the sitting room, grabbing her pack and throwing it over her shoulders. She was running around the small house like a mad woman, gathering her things but there was a smile on her face. Kakashi quirked a brow and followed after Kiyomiko as she jogged out the door, taking no chances when she could possibly faint again.

"I have a visitor coming!" Kiyomiko grinned over her shoulder as Kakashi shut the door behind him and followed after the girl, leaving the Amatsuki compound and jogging towards the main road of the village. It was still early in the morning, the sun still rising over the horizon, dark clouds beginning to gather in the east. Not many people were out on the streets yet, mainly shop-owners, setting up for the day ahead. Kakashi and Kiyomiko walked down the market row towards the main gate and promptly came to a stop just under the giant archway, looking down the dirt path that led out of the village.

"So.. Do you know when this visitor will be showing up?" Kakashi asked, slipping a hand into the pouch on his hip and retrieving one of his books, flipping it open casually as he leaned against a nearby wall.

"Nope, not a clue." Kiyomiko chuckled, folding her arms across her chest and plopping down on her behind in a shady spot, her eyes never leaving the path. She'd be looking for for someone pulling a cart with lots of boxes or crates. She knew that Atsushi Daiki wasn't a ninja, even though he made weapons for them, so the likelihood of his nephew being a ninja was slim.

"So, you're just going to sit out here all day?" Kakashi drawled, raising an eyebrow at Kiyomiko as she sat off to the side, looking excited, like it was her birthday or something.

"Yup." Kiyomiko nodded, a gentle breeze bringing with it the scent of rain as clouds began to cover the rising sun. "That way, I'll be early and I can wait for him. It's better than being late all the time."

"Eheh.. I suppose you're right, but isn't this a little extreme?" Kakashi sighed, ignoring the minor jab at his signiture tardiness. "What if your guest doesn't show up until late tonight?"

"Well, I guess I'll be out here for a while, then." Kiyomiko made a few quick handseals and a clone appeared standing in front of her with a sly smile. Kakashi looked up in interest as the clone took a few coins from Kiyomiko's hand and took off down the street towards market row. Kakashi looked back to Kiyomiko with an exhausted sigh and the girl shot him a defensive scowl. "What? I'm hungry!"


	18. The Ties That Bind

Ugh. Why did he have to be up so damn early? Why did he have to listen to his crazy old uncle and come all the way out here just so the old man could set up a shop in Konoha? A young man with sun-tanned skin and messy, jaw-length copper red hair was walking down the well-travelled path to Konoha, his dark brown eyes barely open. He wore dark brown demin pants and a burnt orange t-shirt, a far cry from his usual flamboyant attire. He guessed that it had been for the best to tone it down a bit, stop dressing like an idiot. Clouds were beginning to cover the sun and it looked like rain. Great, just what he needed. But at least it might cool him off and wake him up a bit.

Of all the things that had gone wrong on this trip, he hadn't had enough money to stay at an inn while he travelled. He wasn't used to roughing it outdoors, even with his survival training. He was used to comfortable beds, sweet sake, cathouses, women! But.. He was broke. His uncle said it would be good for him, living off the land while he travelled to Konoha. That it would build strength of character. But really, all it had built up was the tension in his muscles, sore from sleeping on the ground like an animal. He groaned and placed a hand on his stomach when it growled loudly. He hadn't eaten anything in days.

Just then, the gates of Konoha came into view and the young man's face broke into a smile. He was finally here! Now he just had to get inside, find the Amatsuki Clan leader and set up shop. His uncle had told him that the clan leader would be doing most of the work, that he was expected to handle repairs and look after the shop while the clan leader was out on missions. Though, he'd been a little surprised by that. What was a clan leader doing going out on missions? Was that even normal?

Pushing his thoughts from his mind, the young man picked up his pace a bit and trotted closer to the village gates, two figures coming into view. A young girl stood with her back to him, yelling at a man who was reading a book as he leaned up against a wall. They were standing off to the side of the path as he walked closer, but then he spotted a guard shack just inside and to the left of the open gate. He could ask for directions to the Amatsuki Clan compound at the guard shack.

"Why can't I use clones to run errands when you do it all the time?" The girl shouted, her voice vaguely familiar. The young man tried not to pay attention, but it was pretty hard considering how loud she was being. The two guards sitting in the wooden building seemed uncomfortable, as if this had been going on for a while. "Except instead of actually _doing something useful_, you're reading those pervy books of yours, making your clones do everything for you! Sometimes I can't believe you're actually a teacher!"

Ouch.. The young girl must be a genin from around here, judging by the way she was dressed, and that guy she was yelling at must be her jonin teacher. The silver-haired man just quirked a brow and looked down at the annoyed girl with an almost exhausted expression. Well, what little of it that could be seen, anyway. The man was wearing a mask over the lower half of his face, his forehead protector slanted across one of his eyes.

"I'm just saying, using a clone to bring you food when you could just as easily go and get food yourself is a waste of chakra." The jonin sighed, snapping his book closed and slipping it into the pouch on his hip. And then the man paused, looking down at his student with a puzzled expression. "Kiyomiko..? What is it?"

As the young man had walked into the gates and shuffled over to the guard shack, the girl had mysteriously fallen silent, her small form rigid. From what the young man could see, the girl had long black hair hanging loosely down her back, swaying with her movements and the gentle breeze. Her skin was pale, almost white like paper or fresh parchment. For a brief moment, a memory flashed in the young man's mind and he paused to look at the girl as she started to turn around. When he saw her face, the young man almost gasped, his eyes going wide with recognition.

"Winter...!"

-(o.O)-

Kiyomiko froze when a familiar scent reached her, stopping her verbal assault on Kakashi just long enough for her eyes to widen. Kakashi noticed it right away and he'd asked what was wrong but Kiyomiko hadn't heard him, her entire mind screaming at her to turn around. She knew who was standing behind her but she didn't want to believe it. What was he doing here? Slowly, against her better judgement, she turned around. The young man standing behind her took a step back, his expression shocked when he recognized her.

"Winter...!"

"Hideki..!" Kiyomiko gasped, her pupil-less silver eyes wide as she took in the young man's appearance. He looked almost normal now, less like a shady gang member and more like an actual upstanding person, he wasn't even wearing one of those obnoxious suits he seemed to love so much. He'd put on a little weight, his sunken cheeks filled out so that his face wasn't as narrow anymore, making him look younger than Kiyomiko had thought he was. "What the hell are you doing here?"

All of a sudden, a flash of a paragraph from Gaara's letter returned to her. Summer was searching for Winter. Had that been a clue? Had Hideki been calling himself Summer in an attempt to find her? But why would he do that? Why find her when she had made herself so clear before, telling him that he was better off staying away? What was his end-game, his hidden agenda? Thousands of questions flooded Kiyomiko's mind and all she could do was stand there and stare.

"I was sent here by my uncle! He wanted to set up a weapons shop at the Amatsuki compound and I was just about to ask for directions..!" Hideki gaped, still not quite over the shock of seeing Winter again.

"Wait.. _You're_ Atsushi Daiki's nephew?" Kiyomiko blinked, pointing at Hideki like she didn't believe it. Atsushi Daiki was an extremely fair-skinned man with blue eyes and greying blonde hair. There was no way that Hideki, a sun-bronzed redhead would be related.. was there?

"Yeah.. But.. how did you know about that?" Hideki tilted his head in a quizzical expression. Kiyomiko groaned and physically facepalmed, muttering some pretty colorful curses. "Wait, did the Amatsuki Clan leader send you here to get me..?"

"Sorry to interupt.. But Kiyomiko _is_ the Amatsuki Clan leader.." Kakashi spoke up, taking a few steps forward so that he stood between Kiyomiko and Hideki almost protectively. Though, which one he was trying to protect, Kiyomiko didn't know. "Or I should say, the last of the Amatsuki Clan in general."

"What? Winter is-!"

"Stop calling me that, _Aho!_" Kiyomiko shouted as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere and smacked Hideki upside the head, knocking the young man over. Kakashi stood there for a moment, not really sure what was going on as Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest with a growl. "We can't talk here! Come on!"

Without another word, Kiyomiko turned and stalked off in the direction of the Amatsuki compound, knowing that Kakashi and Hideki were following behind her. She was sure that a few people had stopped and stared as the strange group walked through town. They must have been quite a sight. A young, angry looking girl whom everyone knew as a clan leader now, her exhausted and confused looking jonin teacher and a young man they had never seen before, rubbing his head and grumbling like an angry wolf.

As soon as they reached the compound, Hideki hesitated, his eyes widening when he saw the huge, sprawling estate. It had been almost completely restored, various shop owners setting up their wares for the grand opening tomorrow. Lanterns with the clan crest had been hung from every corner, various other clan symbols painted on lanterns that hung from different shops. Small gardens lined the streets, filled with lush healthy-looking herbs and flowers, a small work crew planting saplings in small fenced-in areas. It looked like a festival was being prepared as well, pale blue and silver streamers lining the awnings of every shop and vendor cart, strings of tiny lights lining the gardens and ponds. In the center of the compound, Hideki could see a tall stone sculpture shaped like the blade of a kunai with the Amatsuki clan crest at the top, hundreds of names carved into each face with a delicate rope fence around it, dozens of small unlit candles and sticks of incense set around it in a circle. No way.. Little Winter owned all of _this_..?

"Oie.." Kiyomiko had noticed that Hideki had stopped and she looked over her shoulder at him with a look of mild irritation, Hideki turned to look at her with wide eyes. Kiyomiko seemed completely unphased by what was happening around her, as if it were all perfectly normal. Then again, she _had_ designed almost everything here in the space of a week. "You comin', or what?"

"Uh.. yeah!" Hideki snapped out of it and jogged ahead to follow Kiyomiko and Kakashi as they walked down one of the small streets in the compound. Almost everyone outside turned and greeted Kiyomiko, some of the older people even bowing to her, and Kiyomiko greeted them with a kind smile and a wave, stopping to help anyone who was having trouble. She was really something. It was hard for Hideki to believe that she really was just a kid.

After making their way down the street, Kiyomiko stopped in front of a darkened building in the square around the memorial stone, walking up to the double doors and opening them wide as she stepped inside. It was obvious that this was a weapons shop and a specialized one at that, judging by the expensive-looking crafting tools and the long workbenches. Display cases were set up around the room and shelves lined the walls with weapons stands to fit any weapon ever made. The wooden floors were polished and the huge bay windows were pristine, the Atsushi Weapons symbol painted onto the glass. Everything was set up in a perfectly professional manner, something that Hideki wasn't used to at all.

There was a doorway in the back of the shop, which Kiyomiko walked through with Kakashi and Hideki following, leading them up a narrow wooden staircase into the modest apartment above the shop. There were four rooms, a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a small sitting room and a balcony with a view of the square. There was modest wooden furniture, tatami mat floors and white plaster walls. Pale blue curtains had been draped over every window, the same was true for every building run by Kiyomiko. The other clans used their clan colors for their drapes.

"There's the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen. There's running water and electricity, appliances have already been brought in. You don't have to worry about rent or anything, just keep it clean, pay your own bills and repair the building yourself if you damage it. If you want any remodeling done, you have to pay for that too." Kiyomiko listed off quickly, her tone dry and exhausted, as if she'd said this dozens of times. Turning to face Hideki, she folded her arms across her chest and looked up at him with a hard stare. "However, I would suggest that you get your things put away quickly and go straight to see the Hokage. I'm not sure how Tsunade-bachan will react to you being a chunin-dropout from Iwa."

Kakashi paused at this, as Kiyomiko knew that he would, turning to look back at Hideki with a raised eyebrow. Kakashi had been in the Third Ninja War when he was Kiyomiko's age, a war in which Konoha, Iwa, and Suna all fought, until the battle was turned in Konoha's favor by the destruction of the Kannabi Bridge, which Kakashi took part in. Hideki sighed slightly, that familiar wannabe mobster look returning slightly as he scratched his head, ruffling his messy red-brown hair.

"Look, I just came here because my uncle wanted my help, that's all. I don't have any agenda other than selling weapons to whoever wants to buy them." Hideki sighed, setting his bag down on the floor at his feet and opening it, revealing a large collection of Suna-made scrolls. "I had no idea that you'd be here, Winter. I was just told that I should deliver these directly to the Amatsuki clan's leader. So.. There."

With that, Hideki pushed the bag over to Kiyomiko and sat down on the floor while Kiyomiko knelt down over the bag, Kakashi standing a short distance away as he watched over his student. Taking one of the scrolls from the bag, Kiyomiko opened it, revealing a summoning seal painted into the parchment. Moving the bag aside, Kiyomiko unrolled the scroll across the floor and formed a seal with one hand, touching the scroll with the other and funneling a small amount of chakra into the seals. Instantly, there was a series of soft pops and a row of stylized weapons appeared, sitting over the seals.

They almost seemed to glow in the morning light as Kiyomiko picked one of the weapons up, inspecting it with an almost loving expression. It was an Urumi, a weapon with a sword's hilt and razor-sharp steel ribbons in place of a blade that worked something like a whip. It was light-weight, something that was always rare among quality weapons but was common for Atsushi weapons, even with the custom engravings and decorative pieces. Hideki's eyes widened as he watched Kiyomiko handling the weapon carefully, almost tenderly, as if she were afraid she'd break it if she handled it too roughly, something that she certainly didn't have a problem with when she handled his skull earlier.

"You can start setting up the weapons however you want them." Kiyomiko said finally, setting the urumi down carefully with a faint smile, her voice soft. After a few seconds, her demeanor hardened slightly and suddenly she was all business again. "The store will only be open from noon until five in the afternoon until we can get more people to work here, which shouldn't be very hard once the compound is open to the public. You'll have to be ready to open tomorrow night. If you need help, I'll be at the small house by the front gate. As far as splitting the profits goes, I'll leave that up to your uncle."

"Wait.. That's it?" Hideki blinked, watching as Kiyomiko got to her feet and walked towards the balcony. "You're just going to leave? Without even explaining anything?"

"There's nothing to explain." Kiyomiko sighed, opening the sliding door to the balcony and jumping from the railing as Hideki stood up, watching her go, a frown appearing on his face.

"Well, if she won't, why don't you explain how you know Kiyomiko?" Kakashi spoke up in a pleasant I-don't-really-trust-you-yet tone, leaning up against a wall as he looked at Hideki, his arms folded across his chest. "And why do you call her Winter?"

"Winter is just the name she told me to call her when we met.." Hideki grumbled, flopping back onto the floor gracelessly, rubbing his head. "She was travelling with one of the Legendary Sannin and I admit, I was kind of a jerk towards her and I paid for it. That Sannin sent me flying and later Winter showed up at the hospital with a proposition for me. Help her find one of the other Sannin and get paid a small fortune."

"I did what I could but just before I could give her the information, I saw her on the street with some guy following her." Hideki continued, avoiding Kakashi's gaze by staring down at the floor with a frown. "I recognized the guy from the Redlight district.. He was pretty famous, hated for making the girls do some pretty sick things and he was looking at Winter like.. You don't even wanna know. I followed after her and when I finally found her... the guy was frozen solid.. "

"So, you were there?" Kakashi sighed, something in his demeanor softening to a look of exhaustion and understanding. "Kiyomiko told me that had happened, how she had been attacked in an alleyway but she never told me that someone else had been there. What happened afterwards?"

"Nothing happened." Hideki said shortly, looking up at the jonin. "She told me to do my job and forget about her. I gave her the information as soon as I could and that was it. She disappeared the next day, leaving the money she owed me at the hotel she stayed at. I know I was supposed to forget her.. But for the past few months, I couldn't. Just seeing that girl so afraid.. I really just wanted to protect her.."

"I know how you feel." Kakashi sighed, crouching down in front of Hideki, looking at the young man with a serious stare. "I may be a jonin and I may even be Kiyomiko's teacher but I know she's strong enough to take care of herself most of the time. And when she can't take care of herself, when she isn't strong enough, then I'll be there. If you really want to protect her, then let her know you're there for her. She needs stability, now more than ever."

With that, the two men ended their conversation and Kakashi left in search of Kiyomiko, leaving Hideki to start setting up the shop by himself. Hideki thought about what he'd learned today, that Little Winter was here in Konoha, the last of her clan and his employer. It was almost like last time and he half-chuckled at the thought. Only this time, he would be there to protect her if she was ever in trouble. He may only be a chunin, but he was Atsushi Daiki's nephew.

-(o.O)-

"Kiyo-chan!" Kiyomiko blinked. She'd been staring at the Amatsuki Monument since she left Hideki and Kakashi ten minutes ago, standing in front of it with a blank expression, her arms folded across her chest. When she turned, she saw Naruto running up to her, Sakura and Sasuke walking behind him. Sasuke and Sakura's eyes were wide as they looked around the square, seeing everyone setting up for the festival tomorrow.

"Hey everyone." Kiyomiko smiled faintly, turning away from the monument and catching Naruto in a hug, which he returned. Ruffling his hair when he pulled away, Kiyomiko wondered if this is what it felt like to be a big sister. "So, you three decided to sneak in to see the place before it opens?"

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned, planting his hands on his hips with a broad smile as he looked around, his eyes glittering with pride over what his teammate had accomplished. "You've really done a lot with this place! I remember coming here a few years ago, it was pretty ruined."

"Oh? So you were one of the village brats that snuck into my house..?" Kiyomiko said in a spooky voice, making a scary face as she snuck up on Naruto and grabbed him from behind, causing him to jump and cry out, startling a few of the people nearby until they saw that it was just Kiyomiko playing with her friends.

"Wait, _your_ house? What'dya mean, Kiyo-chan?" Naruto asked with a puzzled expression, after he'd recovered from Kiyomiko's scare. Sasuke and Sakura looked mildly interested but they kept looking around, Sakura mostly distracted by all the shops that were setting up.

"I mean, the house that all the kids went to, across the river near the back of the compound. It's my house." Kiyomiko answered calmly, pointing in the direction of the huge house in the distance, standing tall over all other buildings in the compound. Kiyomiko's teammates followed her direction and their eyes widened when they saw it. "Though I haven't moved in yet. The work crews just finished last night."

"You live in a house that huge now?" Sakura gaped, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as her jaw nearly hit the ground. "You must have dozens of servants or something!"

"No.. It's just me." Kiyomiko shook her head and all eyes turned to look at her. She shrugged, smiling slightly before she continued. "I don't want any servants, really. I mean, yeah, it's a big house and I live alone, but it was.. my mother's.."

"Well, I think that's just fine!" Naruto said suddenly, clapping a hand on Kiyomiko's shoulder with a huge smile. Kiyomiko returned his smile and even chuckled a bit at his goofy face, which just made him smile more before it looked like he got an idea, turning to look at Sakura and Sasuke. "Oh! We should help Kiyo-chan move in to her new house!"

"Eh? There's really no need! I don't have that much stuff." Kiyomiko tried to protest but Naruto was already dragging her off towards the little house by the front gate, Sasuke and Sakura walking behind before they got dragged off too. From the corner of her vision, Kiyomiko saw Hideki's curious face, peering down at her from the balcony of his new apartment before she was tugged around a corner.

Being dragged back to her house, Kiyomiko eventually gave up struggling and started walking there on her own. When they arrived, Kiyomiko opened the door and looked back to see her teammates' less-than-impressed expressions as they looked over the tiny shack-like house. With a sigh, Kiyomiko walked in and started grabbing her belongings as quickly as she could before anyone walked into the house. But alas, she only had enough time to pack away her clothes before she turned and saw Sasuke, kneeling on the floor as he looked at a book that Kiyomiko had left out. _The History of the Amatsuki and Uchiha Clans_. Kiyomiko had just finished reading it and she paled slightly when she saw him looking at it. It told about the bad blood between her clan and his and she jumped up, snatching the book from the floor and stuffing it into her pack before he could open it.

"Hey-!"

"Hello? Kiyo-chan, are you home?" Saved by Lee! Kiyomiko bounded over to the entryway, glad to escape Sasuke's questions as she greeted Lee, Tenten and Neji, who had come over to visit. Once they heard that Naruto and the others were helping her move, Lee took it upon himself to help out as well, practically forcing his teammates to help too.

The same happened when Kiba, Hinata and Shino showed up a few minutes later, as well as Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji. Soon, Kiyomiko's small house was jam-packed with the Konoha Rookies, all of them trying to wade around each other as they packed up Kiyomiko's things. Luckily, with so many people, it only took a few minutes and soon the whole group filed outside with boxes and bags in their arms as Kiyomiko locked the door behind her.

The odd parade walked through the compound, chatting happily with each other as they looked at all the new stores from other villages as well as the lights and decorations while Kiyomiko started teaching Naruto a song, the boy singing rather off-key at the head of the group. With a laugh, she quieted him and corrected him, her voice rising over the others as she walked, singing a song she'd known since childhood. The villagers around her stopped what they were doing and turned to look as Kiyomiko sang, a soft smile on her face.

_"When the seasons change their flow to a spin,_

_When the links start to wear, slowly within,_

_Please, don't ever let those ties begin to tear,_

_Or lose them to the wind._

_Weighed down by the words I could not let myself forget,_

_They would fill me with deep regret, when_

_I began to drift peacefully through a soothing fantasy,_

_Then awoke to discover you had disappeared._

_Tying up the appearance I wanted to embrace,_

_Softly scattering colors of orange without a trace,_

_Carving pain through my heart which was now an empty space, it's_

_Fluttering, Fluttering, Fluttering,_

_To the sky, to the sea or to someplace far away,_

_I'd try, to deliver a lasting bond that time couldn't fray,_

_But instead, all the colors of the ties that we have made, are_

_Fluttering and Fluttering away._

_Memories once bright, flicker as they begin to age,_

_With time, they are lost on a long forgotten page,_

_They will sleep, in the heart like a dark and empty cage, still_

_Fluttering, Fluttering, Fluttering,_

_Yet I wish I could share my heart with you once again,_

_So now I'll try sending the remnants of those ties if I can,_

_But like rain, gently falling down to earth on the wind, they're_

_Fluttering and Fluttering away."_

Kiyomiko ended the song quietly as they reached the house near the back of the compound, the sun high in the sky as she turned to look at her friends with a smile. There was a look of surprise from among her friends but Shikamaru, Sasuke and Naruto looked the most surprised. Apparently, they hadn't expected Kiyomiko to be able to sing so well. Kiyomiko just shook her head and pulled out her keys, opening the sliding door to her house and walking inside.

One by one, the Konoha Rookies followed her in, each of them kicking off their shoes in the entryway and walking into the wide corridor at the base of the stairs, setting down their burdens. Kiyomiko walked off to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving her friends to look around while Ino, Sakura and Hinata followed her. Almost immediately, Kiyomiko heard Lee and Tenten's excited cheers when they found Kiyomiko's dojo, fully stocked with wooden training weapons and she chuckled, filling a kettle with water and setting it on the new electric stove.

Under Kiyomiko's direction, Hinata gathered the herbs for the tea from the huge wooden cabinet on the far side of the room while Ino collected the clay mugs from the cupboard and Sakura snuck into the fridge to find snacks. Within a few minutes, the kettle squealed and the tea was made, the girls carrying it into the sitting room where everyone had gathered, sitting around a long wooden table. The sliding doors had been opened, giving them a beautiful view of the large garden behind the house and Kiyomiko sat down as everyone enjoyed their snacks and a pleasant conversation.

The sunlight filtered through the trees and Kiyomiko looked out into the garden. The trees had begun to change colors in preparation for autumn, the garden a wash of colors. Gold, red, orange and yellow, the garden covered in a soft glow from the sunlight filtering through the leaves. This was nice, she decided, sitting here with her friends in this beautiful place. A hand rested over hers and she turned to see Sasuke looking at her from the corner of his eye, an almost worried look flickering in his expression. She smiled at him, a soft genuine smile that he had never seen before and his eyes widened.

"Ne, Tenten, you have a good-sized collection of weapons, right?" Kiyomiko said suddenly, looking away from Sasuke to look at Tenten, a hint of mischief flickering in her smile. Tenten seemed surprised but she nodded.

"Yeah, most of my apartment has been over-run by weapons." Tenten laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a bashful smile. "It's getting hard to walk around in my own apartment. Why?"

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow night before I tell you why I asked. Meet me at the front gate after the festival begins, okay? I wanna show you something." Kyomiko grinned, the cogs in her mind turning as she plotted. She would be busy tomorrow night, greeting everyone who came to the festival, but this was for a friend. It was important.

"Alright.." Tenten raised an eyebrow at Kiyomiko's devious-looking smile but she accepted it with a nod.

Soon, everyone finished their tea and Kiyomiko led them back to the entryway where they said their goodbyes. Now that she was alone, Kiyomiko looked around the huge house with a sigh, picking up the dishes from the sitting room and taking them back to the kitchen. Once the dishes were washed, Kiyomiko shut the doors to the garden and began to put her belongings away, taking her clothes and walking up to the second floor.

Memories flashed in Kiyomiko's mind of the day she had gotten trapped in the basement of this house, the girl that had rescued her. She hadn't seen the girl since then and she wondered whether the girl was from this village at all. Turning left, Kiyomiko walked into the huge bedroom and pushed the sliding door open with her foot. A bed sat under a window, two bedside tables sitting on either side with a tall wardobe against a wall. Walking over to the closet doors, Kiyomiko pushed them open. She had had a real closet built into the wall here, the floor of the closet lifting up to reveal the stairs below.

Hanging up her clothes in the closet, Kiyomiko sighed, lifting up the trap door and descending the narrow wooden stairs. Small lights now lined the walls and lit the way, down deeper and deeper into the basement. Even the basement had been redone, the stone floors covered over with tatami mats, the walls covered with wood panelling, wall-mounted lights casting a dim orange glow throughout the room. The wooden cabinet still sat in the same place, the dust washed away to reveal the ornate carvings across the wood.

Walking up to the cabinet, Kiyomiko set her bag down and opened the doors, pulling the eight scrolls from her bag and replacing them in the cabinet in the exact order she had found them in. The silver scroll cases glittered in the orange glow from the lights, the pale blue gemstones enlaid into the metal almost glowing as well. When she was done, Kiyomiko sighed and closed the cabinet doors, pulling a string from around her neck and slipping a small key into the lock, the latch slipping into place with a soft click that seemed to echo with a sensation of finality.

"Oh, so you're back, eh?" Kiyomiko whirled, her eyes wide as she looked behind her. There, standing on the stairs as if she'd been there all along, was the girl who had pulled her out of the basement. She was wearing the same clothes as last time, a white top and baggy charcoal-colored shorts, a pale blue sash around her waist. Her arms were folded across her chest with a playful grin on her face. "I wasn't expecting you to come back here, to be honest."

"Aria.."

The girl's eyes widened when Kiyomiko said her name before a bittersweet smile replaced the surprise. Stepping off of the stairs, Aria walked closer to Kiyomiko, her long black hair almost fluttering behind her, her eyes seeming sad. A chill formed in the room, much like the one Kiyomiko had felt all around the house during that hot summer day when she first came here. Kiyomiko understood now, what that chill meant. It had taken her a while to understand, but now she knew. The girl standing in front of her was Aria, the last leader of the Amatsuki clan, now a ghost that haunted the compound.

"I guess it wasn't that hard to figure out, huh?" Aria chuckled, her pupil-less smokey grey eyes lowered to look at Kiyomiko. She still looked as if she were a real person, standing there with a sad expression, nothing at all what Kiyomiko had expected a ghost to look like. "You're smart, almost too smart for your own good, just like I was."

"You've been here, this whole time?" Kiyomiko asked, her own expression mirroring Aria's as she looked up at her.

"Yep! And imagine my surprise when you showed up, carrying genes of my clan and the Uchiha clan." Aria chuckled, as if she were trying to make light of the situation. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting that. I was honestly expecting that this place would rot away, forgotten. But you've fixed it! Quite spectacularly, I might add."

"Stop pretending everything is okay!" Kiyomiko shouted, looking up at Aria with a glare, startling the girl for a moment before Aria smiled slightly and rested a hand on Kiyomiko's shoulder.

"It's alright now, Kiyomiko-chan. You're here now and that's all that matters." Aria spoke softly, gently, like a mother speaking to a tearful child. Kiyomiko froze, looking down at her shoulder when there was no weight to Aria's hand, looking back up at the girl with wide eyes. "I can go now. I don't have to stick around now that you're here. You can take care of this place and protect the scrolls, though I do wish you'd read them already."

"Read them..? I'm allowed to do that?" Kiyomiko asked dumbly, tears burning her eyes as she blinked, swiping away at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Obviously, you're allowed to read them." Aria sighed and rolled her eyes for a moment, looking down at Kiyomiko with a faint smirk. "They're yours, after all. Those scrolls contain all of the techniques that the Amatsuki clan developed over the years. The truth of our clan is written in them. Be careful that no one else touches them, though. You can't trust anyone with secrets like these."

"Hn.." Kiyomiko nodded with a sniffle, the chill in the room slowly fading. Aria's body was beginning to fade away as Kiyomiko looked up at her, the transparency slowly creeping up the girl's arms and legs. "Tell me something.. before you go."

"What would you like to know?" Aria smiled, ignoring the fact that she was slowly disappearing, the transparency slowly creeping up her thighs and across her shoulders.

"Are you really my mother?" Kiyomiko knew the lunacy of such a question. Aria had died thirty years ago and Kiyomiko was only thirteen, but she still had to ask regardless, trying to keep some shred of hope alive.

"I'm sorry, Kiyomiko-chan, but I'm not.. I wish I were." Aria's smile fell slightly as even her voice began to fade, slipping away like water through her fingers, impossible to hold on to. "But you've proven yourself to be a wonderful girl. I'm proud to leave you my name and welcome you into my family. I'll be sure to tell everyone about you, when I see them next.."

Aria's form began to shimmer like waves of heat and Kiyomiko's eyes widened, reaching out to try and catch that image as it faded away all too quickly, Aria's smile lasting the longest as Kiyomiko tried to wrap her arms around the faded spirit, but it was so use. Aria was gone and Kiyomiko was alone again, heavy tears rolling down her cheeks as the little girl collapsed to her knees. Aria's chill was replaced by Kiyomiko's as veins of ice crawled across the floor and reached up the walls like the roots of a huge tree, Kiyomiko's tears freezing on her face and dropping to the floor like hailstones.

It wasn't fair! She may have a name and she may be related to the clan because of some experiment, but she still had nothing to hold on to! There was no one around her to hold her when she cried, no one to praise her when she did something right, no one to laugh at her when she did something stupid. A deep ache pained Kiyomiko's chest and she pressed her hands against her heart as she cried, sobbing uncontrollably as she mourned the loss of the woman she never even knew. She was spinning out of control, the world's colors blurring around her as she fought to steady herself before she fell but there was nothing to grab onto.

Then, Kiyomiko's eyes widened when she felt a hand on her shoulder where Aria's had been and she looked up to see Kakashi kneeling over her, his gaze steady and solemn. Ice had covered the room and the air was deathly cold but he was still here, holding out his hand to help her up. It was a simple gesture to let her know that there was still someone there, someone strong to steady her and pick her up when she fell. Someone stable. Fresh tears burned in her eyes and in one motion, Kiyomiko found herself in his arms, sobbing against his chest as the chill in the room slowly faded and the ice began to disappear.

"You're not alone anymore, Kiyomiko. You have people who care about you and your ties with them will never fade away."

-(o.O)-

The night of the festival had arrived. Kiyomiko stood out at the front gate, wearing a pale blue yukata with her clan's crest embroidered into the flowing sleeves in a shimmering silver silk thread. Her long ink black hair had been tied back and a long braid hung down her back, ending at the base of her spine, her pupil-less silver eyes almost glowing in the dim light from the paper lanterns as a crowd began to gather for the festival, curious when they found the doors locked shut. Mingled with the crowd, Kiyomiko could see the Konoha Rookies, her friends and classmates from the Academy and she smiled.

"I regret to inform you that the Amatsuki compound is off limits!" Kiyomiko shouted over the crowd, met with a startled silence and wide eyes before a wicked grin appeared on her face. "Just kidding!"

With a flourish of motion, Kiyomiko turned and placed her palms against the heavy wooden doors and forced her chakra into them, freezing them completely. Hearing the surprised villagers behind her, Kiyomiko took a step back before she leaned in and punched both of the wooden doors, shattering and splintering the wood into dozens of pieces, leaving the gate totally unharmed. As soon as the gate doors had been destroyed, orange-colored light poured out of the compound as Kiyomiko stepped aside with a sweet smile, gesturing for everyone to go inside.

"Welcome to the Garden District and enjoy your stay." Kiyomiko giggled as a few people around her gasped, looking at the compound from outside. Lanterns and candles were lit everywhere, casting a glittering glow in a rainbow of colors. Vendors and shop owners stood outside their businesses with a knowing smile as they waited for the village to enter the compound. Floral incense was burning on every corner and delicate rings of smoke surrounded the Amatsuki monument from all of the incense and candles that had been lit to honor them. A band began to play lively music from somewhere in the square and gradually, the villagers began to walk into the compound, children running ahead of their parents with bright smiles.

"You really had me goin' there for a second, Kiyo-chan!" A familiar voice chuckled and Kiyomiko turned to see Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, Shino and Hinata, all of her friends, all of them wearing yukatas for the occasion, some with clan symbols embroidered onto the collar or the sleeves.

"You guys came!" Kiyomiko beamed, jogging over to her friends and bringing a few of them into a huge hug. After a few minutes of laughing and joking, Kiyomiko grabbed Tenten's wrist and pulled her aside, her devious smile returning. The others looked on with varying expressions of mild concern and amusement. "Tenten, are you ready for your surprise?"

"Uhm.. I guess.." For a split second, Tenten looked like a scared rabbit and Kiyomiko's fox-like grin widened when she pulled out a blindfold and tied it around Tenten's eyes before she could get away, Lee and Kiba helping to keep the girl steady.

"Alright! Let's get going!" Kiyomiko took Tenten's arm and led the group into the compound with a cheerful grin, stepping over the remenents of the giant doors as the ice thawed across the paving tiles.

Her geta clicking as she walked, Kiyomiko led her friends into the square and came to a stop in front of the Atsushi Weapons shop. She heard Lee gasp behind her and Neji groaned as a few other people looked at the shop with curious expressions. As soon as the group came to a stop, Hideki appeared, opening the doors wide with a friendly smile. Even he was wearing a yukata for the festival, a burnt orange one with the Atsushi shop design embroidered into the sleeves.

"Welcome, welcome!" Hideki put on a good show and stepped aside as Kiyomiko untied the blindfold from Tenten's eyes. For a moment, the girl stood silent, blinking as if she were looking at a mirage, her eyes travelling in a path between the symbol on the huge windows out front and Hideki, holding the doors open for her. "Welcome to Atsushi Weapons. Just to let you kids know, you're allowed to pick one free weapon tonight as a promotion for the festival. Though, it's only for you, the Konoha Rookies."

"Kiyo-chan.. Am I dreaming..?" Tenten mumbled, her eyes wide as she stared, gripping Kiyomiko's hand almost as if she couldn't believe what was right in front of her. Kiyomiko had to wonder whether Hideki had really cleared that promo deal with this uncle, or if he just made it up on the spot to gain favor with her. Either way, she was impressed with the idea. "Is that shop really there?"

"Yup." Kiyomiko smirked, grabbing ahold of Lee by the back of his yukata as he tried to sneak past her, giving Tenten a gentle push towards the shop. "Go on in and pick something out. Be careful not to ransack the whole place!"

Without another word, a smile cracked across Tenten's face and she ran into the shop looking like a kid in a candy store. After Tenten had gotten a good headstart, Kiyomiko released Lee and the group walked into the shop as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy looking around at all the custom weapons, even Neji, who normally didn't show much emotion, had a faint smile on his face when he looked at a pair of lightweight fist weapons. Kiyomiko and Hideki stood back, letting the Konoha Rookies have their fun, Kiyomiko's arms crossed over her chest with a warm smile on her face.

"I'm impressed that you got everything set out so quickly." Kiyomiko said quietly, so only Hideki could hear her over the racket her friends were creating as they fawned over the weapons. From the corner of her eye, she could see Hideki looking down at her with an amused expression. "You did a good job."

"Your friend must really love weapons." Hideki pointed to Tenten, who was scurrying around the display cases and oggling every weapon in sight. "Anyway, it's no trouble. I'm just glad everything turned out so well."

As everyone was picking out a weapon, Kiyomiko slipped out of the shop unnoticed, walking out into the festival. The compound was packed with people, oohing and ahhing over this and that, all of the shops and teahouses were packed with people, lines beginning to form at all of the vendors. It seemed like even people from other villages had arrived to see what all of the fuss had been about and Kiyomiko could have sworn that she caught glimpses of the other clan leaders within the crowds.

"Kiyomiko.."

Kiyomiko turned, hearing a familiar voice behind her and her eyes widened when she saw three familiar faces behind her. Gaara stood there amidst the hustle and bustle of the festival with Temari and Kankuro standing behind him. A bright smile appeared on Kiyomiko's face and she laughed, jogging over to Gaara and pulling him into a hug.

"Gaara! You came!" Kiyomiko laughed as she took a step back and smiled up at the thoroughly stunned-looking Gaara, a thin curl of sand swirling around the two of them before it settled.

"Oie.. We came too.." Kankuro started to whine but Temari smacked him upside the head, silencing him as she pointed to Gaara and Kiyomiko. Gaara was actually smiling.

"Hn." Gaara nodded, a faint smile on his face as he looked down at Kiyomiko. "I wanted to see how the village was treating you but I see now that I had no reason to worry."

"You mean you snuck out of Suna without telling anyone?" Kiyomiko's eyes widened and she tried to hide a surprised giggle when Gaara nodded again.

"We tried to stop him but.. " Temari began with an exhausted sigh.

"After a while, it took all we had just to keep up with him." Kankuro finished, rubbing the back of his head with a bashful smile.

"Well, I imagine Baki is having a heart-attack right about now." Kiyomiko giggled, seeing a flicker of laughter in Gaara's eyes as well. "Oh, I would have loved to see his face when he realized you were gone!"

"It's the same face I have now that I've found him." Baki's voice came from somewhere in the shadows and Kiyomiko turned slowly, seeing Baki walking up behind her. He looked pissed and Kiyomiko looked like she was a kid that had been caught stealing candy before dinner. Baki paused for a moment, looking down at the strange girl before his brow twitched and a sigh escaped his lips. "Fine. I'll let you have one night together before I have to bring you back. The elders are furious with you, Gaara."

"Bah! Those old fogeys don't understand that Gaara's changed!" Temari cried dramatically, clapping a hand on Gaara's shoulder as she spoke to Baki, her expression something like a pitiable damsel. "He's more normal now than he ever was! Like a normal boy! He needs to _live a little_!"

There was a brief silence between the group before a faint snickering sound was heard. After a few seconds, Kiyomiko and Kankuro burst into peels of laughter, soon joined by Temari. Baki looked visibly shaken and a little uncomfortable and he snuck away as soon as no one was looking. After recovering from her fit of laughter, Kiyomiko and the Sand siblings walked over to a quiet teahouse, run by Suzume and Suzuki, and ordered the most expensive tea and sweets. Tonight was a celebration, they decided, and they would enjoy themselves.

In one of the darkened, candlelit corners of the teahouse, Kiyomiko could see Kurenai and Asuma sitting together, looking fancy in new yukatas. When Kurenai wasn't looking, Kiyomiko caught Asuma's attention and flashed him a knowing grin and a thumbs up, which he regarded with an embarassed smile before Kurenai looked back at him, making him quickly look away. Kiyomiko could hear Konohamaru outside, playing with his two friends as they enjoyed the fesival games.

After saying goodnight to Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, Kiyomiko walked through the compound with a satisfied smile. She could see Shikaku and Yoshino strolling along quietly, waving at her as she passed, and even Tsunade and Shizune were there, sitting at one of the only teahouses in the compound that served sake. Out of the corner of her eye, Kiyomiko saw Kakashi and Guy going from one games booth to the next, Guy cheering for each one before Kakashi promptly beat him at every game. That is, until Kakashi let Guy win the last one, for fear that Guy would break the whack-a-mole game if he lost.

As she walked past the bath house, Kiyomiko heard a familiar chuckle and she sighed. Turning to look, she saw Jiraiya peeping into the girls' bath and, without saying a word, Kiyomiko slipped off one of her geta and put her foot on the ground, forming a quick seal as ice shot directly for the pervy old man, curling around him and trapping him as it lifted him upwards. There was a collective squeal as the women in the bath saw him and subsequently started using him as target practice for his troubles as Kiyomiko walked away with a satisfied smirk. He still owed her a bag of dried peaches, after all.

As she stopped at one of the various vendors, Kiyomiko quickly purchased some yakitori and went along her way for a few minutes before she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening. In a darkened alley near a teahouse, Kiyomiko could make out the figures of Anko and Ibiki talking to each other. They were just talking, but something told Kiyomiko they were probably thinking of something else. Hurrying along her way, Kiyomiko scurried out of sight before they saw that she had noticed them, trying to contain her giggles.

When she was far enough away, Kiyomiko heard a large group of children and she turned her attention to them, seeing Iruka and Ebisu leading the children around the festival, the pint-sized mob practically cleaning out the candy stalls, leaving them bare like locusts and leaves. Kiyomiko chuckled when she heard the two men scolding them and she walked up behind them, making funny faces at the children while the men had their backs to her. The children burst into laughter and the two men looked at each other for a moment before they looked behind them, but Kiyomiko had disappeared.

After a few minutes of chuckling, Kiyomiko arrived over by the gate to the compound, where Kiba's family, Tsume and Hana, were there with their pack, the dogs walking around calmly as they all looked around for a place to eat. Jogging up to them, Kiyomiko pointed out a restaurant that allowed animals inside and even served special food for animals, which seemed to surprise Tsume but she took it with grace. Leaving the Inuzukas', Kiyomiko kept walking around the compound, smiling and waving to everyone who greeted her. It was true, what Kakashi had said. She could see now, the ties that she had made. The whole village was connected to one another and now she was connected to them.

-(o.O)-

As the festival began to wind down, Kiyomiko stood in the center of the compound near the Amatsuki Monument, looking around at her surroundings with a mysterious smile. Without saying a word, Kiyomiko nodded to the nearby band and they stopped playing. The drummer grinned knowingly and took his position over the largest drum and began to beat on it, making it sound like a heartbeat was echoing across the compound. The villagers fell silent as all of the shop owners and vendors dropped what they were doing and within minutes, all of the lanterns and lights were extinguished, leaving the compound in total darkness except for the candles that surrounded the monument.

Suddenly, a blue glowing orb, the size of a melon, formed in the palm of Kiyomiko's cupped hands and she held it out for all to see, illuminating the faces of everyone she knew as they watched her, wide eyed. The heartbeat of the drum was the only sound, echoing throughout the compound and reverberating through everyone as Kiyomiko slowly danced with the chakra orb, the chakra slowly condensing itself as she moved. The white-blue glow grew brighter and brighter as the orb got smaller and smaller until it was about the size of a small marble and Kiyomiko lowered it, mere inches from the ground as the drum's heartbeat suddenly stopped. Everyone heard Kiyomiko inhale and suddenly she launched herself upwards, landing on top of the Amatsuki Monument as the tiny blue orb floated upwards into the sky.

All eyes were locked on that orb as it rose higher and higher into the sky. No one noticed Kiyomiko waver slightly before she caught herself, dropping down to one knee. Finally, when the orb had stopped, it stayed there, hovering directly above Kiyomiko as if waiting for something. Drawing a kunai from her sleeve, Kiyomiko whipped it upwards at the orb in one graceful motion. This was something she had been practicing for days. As the kunai hit the orb, the chakra exploded over the compound, scattering a wave of glowing snowflakes on a torrent of cold air. Gaara's eyes widened when he saw it, recognizing this as something similar to what Kiyomiko had done when he had seen her last. She made it snow!

After a few seconds, blue glowing snowflakes hummed through the air as the floated down to the ground. A few people were startled by it, a strange chilled chakra joining with their own and restoring their bodies, but Kiyomiko stood still, holding her arms out wide as half a dozen more lights rose into the sky behind her, only these lights were different. As soon as the six lights were high in the sky over the compound, they exploded into an array of colors. It was fireworks. Kiyomiko reached up with one hand, a faint whistling sound hidden between the sounds of the fireworks that promptly stopped when an ice-covered kunai appeared in her hand. It had been the same kunai she had thrown at the orb. There was a roar of applause and cheers as the fireworked boomed on, exploding in a rainbow of colors as Kiyomiko slipped down from the top of the kunai-shaped monument.

When Kiyomiko's feet were back on the ground, she staggered slightly, exhausted from the amount of chakra control it took to freeze wind and water to a ball that sized. Attemping to steady herself, Kiyomiko reached out to rest her hand on the monument when a hand took hers instead. Looking up, she saw Sasuke standing beside her, steadying her and she smiled up at him weakly. A faint tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks and he looked away, draping Kiyomiko's arm over his shoulder as he walked her through the crowd to the base of a nearby tree. The crowd was so enamored with the fireworks that only a handful of people noticed the pair slip away.

Sitting down with her back against the base of the tree, Kiyomiko looked up at the fireworks with an exhausted smile. She had done well today and now she allowed herself to rest, her eyes falling closed as the charred scent of smoke surrounded her. Aria's smiling face appeared in her memory and she smiled. Would she be proud? Just as Kiyomiko was beginning to drift off, another scent drew closer, Sasuke's scent, and she felt the air shift around her. Opening her eyes, Kiyomiko saw Sasuke's face, leaning in closer and closer to hers, his eyes closed. What..? What was he doing..? What was this..? Panicking, Kiyomiko shoved Sasuke back and rolled a few feet away, a bright pink blush spreading across her cheeks as Sasuke looked up at her, stunned.

"What the _hell_ were you trying to do?" Kiyomiko gasped, steadying herself by putting her hands on the ground, trying to ignore the heat that dominated her face. "Were you trying to eat me or something?"

"E-eat you? What the hell?" Sasuke quickly stood and righted himself, brushing grass and dust from his clothes as he looked down at Kiyomiko, his eyes wide for a moment before his expression changed.. It was blank, as if nothing had happened at all. "Nevermind. It was nothing!"

Without another word, Sasuke turned and stalked off into the crowd, leaving Kiyomiko sitting beneath the tree by herself. She was exhausted and confused and.. blushing. Why was she blushing? Ugghhh.. Kiyomiko groaned as she hauled herself upwards, dusting herself off and smoothing her hair. Why had Sasuke been so close to her? And why had he stormed off like that, like she had offended him? Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Kiyomiko stalked off in the opposite direction as Sasuke, walking back towards her house before she saw Kakashi standing a short distance away, Guy still beside him, whining about how many games he lost.

"Kakashi-sensei.." Kiyomiko spoke up loud enough for him to hear and Kakashi looked down, his attention instantly diverted to her. Kiyomiko only ever called him "sensei" when something was wrong. "I'm heading back home, okay? I'm not feeling well."

"Alright, Kiyomiko." Kakashi nodded after a moment, his eyes widening slightly at her disheaveled appearance, her cheeks burning with a bright red blush and her eyes troubled. "I hope you feel better soon."

"Me too." Kiyomiko sighed as she turned and walked back towards her house, leaving the festival behind her as the fireworks began the grand finale, flickering colored lights casting a rainbow glow across the compound, shadows dancing around her.

When Kiyomiko entered her house, she kicked off her geta, shed her yukata in the hall and tossed it aside without a second thought as she walked towards the bathroom. Pulling the bindings from her hair, Kiyomiko shuffled into the bathroom and drew herself a cool bath, practically jumping into the water and submersing herself as soon as the tub was full. She stayed like that for a long while, hearing a nearby clock ticking the time away as she sat silent, hugging her knees to her chest. When the sounds of the fireworks had subsided, Kiyomiko hauled herself out of the tub with a sigh, feeling a strangely hollow sensation within her that she didn't understand.

There were too many things she didn't understand tonight, she decided as she wrapped a towel around her and left the bathroom, picking up her clothes on her way to her upstairs bedroom. Once in her bedroom, she dumped the clothes on the foot of her bed and she went to the closet, opening the sliding double doors and grabbing her thin white yukata, the one she slept in. Dropping the towel, she slipped the thin fabric around her shoulders and tied it closed with the white sash, tugging her long black hair into submission as she pulled it into a long braid over her shoulder. She could hear the villagers outside starting to leave and she sighed, walking over to the window and pulling it open, hopping up on the windowframe to sit down.

She felt bad for not saying goodnight to her friends but they would probably understand. After all, she really wasn't feeling well. She had used a lot of her own chakra before the fireworks tonight and she was exhausted, weeks of planning and effort all coming to fruition at once. A gentle breeze caused the dark trees to sway and Kiyomiko sighed again, closing her eyes and letting her heightened senses tell her what the world was doing now. Just as she was about to fall asleep there, a set of familiar scents reached her nose and her eyes snapped open, her body going rigid as she gripped the windowsill to steady herself. Her eyes were wide as they searched the shadows wildly, looking for the source of those scents, but as soon as she had detected them, they had vanished, leaving her heart racing and her body trembling. No.. She must be imagining things..

They couldn't be here now..

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**Song found on youtube. Here's the title. "Hatsune Miku - Hirari, Hirari". Thought it fit pretty well. **

**Please feel free to leave reviews. I would really love some feedback on this.**


	19. Hearts That Connect

**Author's Note:**

**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't uploaded for a while. I got distracted by yet another fanfic I decided to try my hand at. But this time, I promise I'll keep writing! Just be patient with me, I have ADHD. xD**

**Lemme know what you think of this!**

**-Asia**

* * *

The morning after the festival, Kiyomiko woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in her bed. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about but she still felt a strange fear and an uneasiness that coiled itself around her heart like a snake, similar to the one she had felt before Orochimaru attacked Konoha. Only this time, it nearly made her physically ill. After recognizing her surroundings, Kiyomiko slipped out of bed and forced herself into her morning routine, trying desperately to ignore the anxiety that was clawing at her insides.

After eating a modest breakfast, Kiyomiko bathed and went back to her room, opening the closet. She didn't have any plans today other than walking around the compound, tending to the shopowners and vendors, so she could get away with wearing something light. Pulling an outfit from her closet, she laid it out on her bed and quickly dressed. When she was done, Kiyomiko wore a white yukata with pale blue trim, pale blue shorts that peeked out from beneath the yukata and a pale blue sash, her hands and feet bare. Tying her forehead protector around her neck, Kiyomiko smoothed her long black hair down her back like a curtain of silk, arranging her bangs to frame her face with silver tube-like clasps hanging from them. The Amatsuki clan crest, a crescent moon with a cloud, was embroidered on the upper-arm portion of the sleeves on her yukata in a silver-blue silk thread. Looking in the full-length mirror inside the closet, Kiyomiko's eyes widened when she thought she saw Aria staring back at her but instead, it was just herself.

With a frown, Kiyomiko looked away from the mirror and leaned down to pull up the trap door to the basement. Aria had told her to read the scrolls, that they contained the secret jutsus of the Amatsuki clan. Admittedly, she had been curious about what was written in those scrolls but she had been too afraid, something she would never admit to, to read them. Descending into the basement, Kiyomiko closed the trap door behind her, walking down the stairs and across the small basement to the tall cabinet that sat against the opposite wall. Opening the cabinet doors, Kiyomiko carefully took the top-most scroll in her hand, the silver scroll case feeling almost rediculously light in her hands.

Kneeling down in front of the cabinet, Kiyomiko opened the scroll case to retrieve the scroll inside, slipping the rolled parchment into her hand before she opened it, looking down at the words written on the parchment in a faded ink. It was old, terribly old, yellowed and faded with age, the parchment cracked and wrinkled over time. Out of habit, Kiyomiko's sharingan bloomed in her eyes, ensuring that she would memorize everything written there even if she only saw it once. She'd been taught to read important documents this way since she gained full control over her sharingan.

Kiyomiko's blood red eyes widened as she read, her eyes scanning the words faster and faster, repeating a few sentences as if they had lied to her. According to this scroll, the Amatsuki Clan were the descendents of a woman named Akiyo, the third child and only daughter of the Sage of Six Paths. Kiyomiko knew the legend about the children of the Sage, but the legends only told of two brothers, never a daughter. According to the legend, the Sage was on his deathbed when he sent for his two sons to declare an heir to bestow his power upon. The older brother, who had inherited the "eyes" of the Sage and the younger brother, who had inherited the "body" of the Sage. The Sage had asked his two sons how they would bring about peace to the world. The older brother thought that force and strength were the only options, whereas the younger brother believed that love and kindness were the answer. The Sage believed that the younger of the two brothers was correct and selected him to become the heir, scorning the older brother in the process.

But the scroll mentioned a third child of the Sage, the daughter named Akiyo. According to the scroll, she had inherited the "mind" of the Sage and when the Sage asked her how she would bring about peace, Akiyo declared that she would not fight at all, choosing to tend to the world's wounds regardless of clan or creed. The older brother scoffed at her, calling her a fool, and Akiyo left before the Sage could make his choice. After the Sage passed away, Akiyo left their home and the two brothers never saw their younger sister again. She had known that a battle between her two brothers would be inevitable and so she left before the pain in her heart had become too great. However, when news of the brothers' deaths reached her, she wept and mourned, regretting not staying true to her words of healing the world's wounds regardless of ideals. Deciding then that, since she hadn't been there to heal her brothers' wounds, she would watch over their children and their children's children, each of the three siblings becoming their own clan, the descendants of the two brothers always fighting and the descendants of Akiyo always healing their wounds from the shadows.

Kiyomiko closed her eyes and rolled the scroll back up, slipping it back into its case and replacing it on the shelf before she grabbed the next one down. Her mind was reeling but she couldn't stop reading now, more and more questions popped up in her mind and the only answers were in these scrolls. For three hours, Kiyomiko read and reread the scrolls, learning more of the history of her clan and the secret techniques that only the descendants of Akiyo could use. Some of the knowledge written in these scrolls frightened Kiyomiko, most of the techniques were to heal, however in the last scroll, there were offensive techniques as well, describing, in great detail, the secrets of the human body. Kiyomiko could understand now, why the Amatsuki clan would not allow the Uchiha clan to learn these techniques. With the sharingan and the knowledge these scrolls provided, the Uchiha clan would have been an unstoppable force that would never be controlled.

The techinique most frightening was called Soul Displacement, or Reikon Haikiryou. It listed the points where the soul connects to the human body and how to detach the soul from it's body, killing it with very little effort. On the other hand, there was a healing technique that was just as startling. Soul Union, or Reikon Setsuzoku, would use the healer's soul and link it with the soul of a recently deceased person, using it to restart the person's bodily functions. The jutsu could revive a person from the dead if used within eight minutes of the heart stopping. However, until the revived person's bodily functions are restored and stabilized, the healer and the revived person's souls are linked and whatever happens to the person also happens to the healer. If the person dies before they're completely healed, the healer will die as well.

Rolling up the last scroll, Kiyomiko sighed and deactivated her sharingan, the flood of new information and techniques seeping into her mind and exhausting her. These scrolls were dangerous. If anyone ever got ahold of them, it would be disasterous. Placing the last scroll back into it's case and on the shelf, Kiyomiko closed and locked the cabinet doors. Forming a seal with her fingers, thick sheets of ice began to encase the cabinet, leaving the rest of the room untouched. This ice was different from her normal ice, however. Instead of being crystal clear, this ice was pale blue and much more durable than regular ice. It would not melt with heat and required a great deal of precision force to break it. It would certainly slow down anyone who tried to steal her scrolls.

Leaving the basement, the uneasiness returned in full force, catching Kiyomiko off-guard as she stumbled on the top steps, pushing open the trap door and stepping out into her bedroom. Catching herself before she fell, Kiyomiko righted herself with an irritated sigh, not entirely sure why she even _was_ irritated, if not for the growing fear that something was terribly wrong. her bare feet silent against the wood floors, Kiyomiko left her bedroom and walked down to the first floor entryway, shoving her feet into a pair of wooden geta and grabbing her fan, slipping it into the pale blue sash around her waist. It had been an impulse decision, to take her fan with her as she left her house, her geta clicking against the drab grey stone paving tiles that covered the pathways of the compound.

The sun was shining overhead and the compound was a busy place, villagers and merchants chatting happily as if nothing was wrong. Why then, did she still feel uneasy? Just as she had taken a few steps away from her house, a scent in the air grew steadily closer. It was Sakura's scent of cherry blossoms and fresh parchment, mingled with the scent of tears. Something was wrong. A few seconds later, Sakura appeared, running towards Kiyomiko, looking pale and frightened.

"Kiyo-chan! You've got to help!" Sakura cried as she came to a sharp stop in front of Kiyomiko, the pink-haired girl grabbing Kiyomiko's shoulders in a desperate grip. "Sasuke..! Sasuke's gone!"

Kiyomiko's eyes widened as the tearful girl bantered on, her words studdered and faint. She could almost feel the world stop turning for a moment before her eyes hardened, taking hold of Sakura's shoulders to silence her. Sakura looked up at Kiyomiko with wide green eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks in an uncontrollable torrent as Kiyomiko turned, pushing the girl towards her house.

"Get inside and stay there until I get back. Don't talk to _anyone_ about what you just told me." Kiyomiko's voice was cold and hard, the air temperature around her dropping slowly. A flicker of fear and confusion glimmered in Sakura's teary eyes but she nodded, wiping the tears from her face as she went into Kiyomiko's house and shut the door behind her. As soon as Sakura was out of sight, Kiyomiko disappeared in a raging whirlwind of ice and snow, using the elemental chakra within her to reappear at the front gates of Konoha.

When she reappeared, jagged shards of ice scattered across the road, startling a group of medical ninjas as they prepared to leave. Tsunade and Shizune stood a short distance away, their eyes widening when they saw Kiyomiko. Tsunade took a few steps towards Kiyomiko but she paused when Kiyomiko held up a hand to stop her. Kiyomiko's eyes were darker than usual, a deep smokey grey instead of the pure silver-white they normally were. The girl's expression was hard, her eyes sharp as she looked around, reminding Tsunade all too well who she was related to.

"I'm going." Kiyomiko declared with a hard tone of finality, begging no argument. A flicker of anger appeared on Tsunade's face for a moment as she quickly crossed the distance between them and gripped Kiyomiko's wrist tightly.

"You're _not_ going!" Tsunade commanded, attempting to pull Kiyomiko away from the gate as the team of medical ninjas started to leave, glancing back at the scene with wide eyes. "I can't risk Orochimaru getting both Sasuke _and_ you!"

"You can't stop me, Tsunade." Kiyomiko stayed rooted to the spot where she was standing, using her chakra to glue herself in place as Tsunade pulled, Kiyomiko's arm feeling like it would be ripped from it's socket at any minute. "Besides, if you want everyone to return alive, you'll need me."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade turned, her eyes narrowed as she looked down at Kiyomiko skeptically. "I've heard of your healing abilities from Jiraiya, they're minor at best!"

"That was before I learned my family's techniques." Kiyomiko answered coolly, her voice and demeanor almost icy. Kiyomiko continued, her eyes locked with Tsunade's. "From Aria."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she inhaled sharply, as if she'd just been slapped in the face, releasing Kiyomiko's wrist as she took a step back. Kiyomiko knew now that Tsunade had known Aria, they had played together as children while Tsunade learned her medical ninjustu from Aria's mother, Mitsuko. Tsunade had been one of the children from the Senju clan, one of the first groups that Mitsuko had taught her techniques to.

"I'm going." Kiyomiko repeated coldly, turning away from Tsunade and Shizune as she followed after the medical team, her geta clicking across the ground with each step. Looking down at her feet for a moment, she sighed. That clicking would give her away. Kicking off her geta, Kiyomiko left them behind at the gate as she ran to catch up with the medical team. Keeping Yuki's chakra in check, Kiyomiko made sure that she wouldn't accidentally freeze anyone to death on the way to locating her friends and Sasuke. She growled internally at the thought of the Uchiha, willingly running off to join with Orochimaru in a pitiful attempt to gain power. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.

-(o.O)-

For a while, Kiyomiko ran beside the leader of the medical team, _with_ the team but not really _part_ of it. They had all been trained by Tsunade and as such, they had their suspicions about letting Kiyomiko tag along until she pulled rank on them, announcing that she was the Amatsuki Clan leader and she was going with or without their permission. Everything was quiet as she ran, following the fading scent of her friends. Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru, Naruto, Neji and Chouji were all running after Sasuke, but at some point, the scents began to split up, fading faster and faster with each minute that passed. Growing impatient, Kiyomiko growled to herself, leaving a thick icy patch on a branch she'd landed on, startling the medical team.

"We're going too slow!" Kiyomiko shouted to the team leader as she pulsed chakra into her legs to run faster. "I'm going on ahead!"

"Wait-!" Before the team leader could stop her, Kiyomiko took off into the forest ahead of the team. Like hell she'd wait! Her friends lives' were on the line and they could be dying right now while she's taking a leisurely sunday stroll through the forest!

Another growl rumbled through Kiyomiko and she dropped down onto all fours like an animal, ice forming on whatever surface she touched as she ran faster and faster ahead. The scent nearest to her was Chouji's and Kiyomiko charged for it, dropping from the trees and landing in a clearing where all the plantlife had been destroyed. Standing upright again, Kiyomiko's footsteps were completely silent, leaving no footprints as she stalked closer to a strangely familiar looking corpse in the center of the destruction. Her sharingan bloomed in her widening eyes reflexively when she saw a face from her past, mutated almost beyond recognition by the power of a curse seal. It was Jirobo, one of the four children that Orochimaru had made her train before he tried to kill her.

Chouji's scent was coming from nearby, so Kiyomiko tore her eyes away from Jirobo's corpse and followed her friend's scent into the treeline, where she found what looked like a bundle of baggy clothes and an orange wig slumped over on the ground at the base of a tree. It took a moment for Kiyomiko's mind to process what her eyes were seeing but when her mind finally jammed into gear, she was at the boy's side in an instant. He was badly injured, his skin pale and gleaming with a cold sweat, his clothes hanging off of him as if he were a skeleton. Kiyomiko knew that the Akimichi Clan, Chouji's family, gained their chakra by burning the calories in their bodies, in turn losing the weight that they had gained.

Carefully moving the boy, Kiyomiko deactivated her sharingan and laid Chouji out on a flat space of ground, leaning in and pressing her ear against his chest. His heartbeat was soft and weak as if it were slowly shutting down from the strain he had endured from battling with Jirobo. By the time the medical team arrived, Chouji had been brought to the point of near stable, Kiyomiko leaning over him with a pale white-blue glow pulsing from her fingertips, the chakra seeping into his chest around his heart. Kiyomiko was wincing but she didn't stop until the team leader knelt down beside her and began healing the boy as well.

Now that Chouji was in the hands of the medical team, Kiyomiko stood and walked out of sight for a moment, leaning back up against a tree as she closed her eyes, a shaky sigh escaping her lips. Chouji's condition was shaky at best but he stood a good chance if the team got him back to Konoha quickly. When Kiyomiko opened her eyes next, she had regained her steely demeanor and she stepped out from behind the tree, her eyes hard and sharp as she walked up to the team leader again.

"I'm going on ahead again. Hyuga Neji is nearby and I need to make sure he's alright." Kiyomiko said, catching the young man off-guard when she touched his shoulder to get his attention. After a few seconds, he nodded and Kiyomiko set out again, leaving Chouji with the team as she jumped into the trees and ran off towards Neji's scent. Her eyes widened, however, when she got close enough for the scent of blood to reach her, mingled with Neji's scent.

The scent of death was also mingling with the air and Kiyomiko dropped from the trees again, surrounded by the corpses of spiders and torn spiderwebs. A sick feeling rose within her as she walked through the trees, knowing all too well who Neji had battled against. Kidomaru, a dark boy who had a fascination with spiders and thought everything was a game. The sight of Kidomaru's corpse nearby confirmed her suspicions as Kiyomiko continued, following Neji's scent until she stepped into a puddle of blood.

Neji lay face down in a crumpled heap, blood staining his clothes as Kiyomiko knelt down beside him and carefully examined the wound on his back, a gold clay-like residue dusted on his clothes. Even this close, she couldn't hear Neji's heartbeat and she slowly turned the boy's body so that he laid on his back, his eyes half-open as they looked up at her blankly. Neji was dead, but his body was still warm. With a grim expression, Kiyomiko closed her eyes and held one hand over his heart, the other hand over her own. Her heightened hearing told her that the medical team was approaching quickly. She didn't have much time.

"Hiden: Reikon Setsuzoku no Jutsu!" Kiyomiko whispered, forcing her chakra into her hands. A white-blue chakra poured from her fingertips into her heart and into Neji's heart, gradually travelling the distance between the two, taking on a thin thread-like appearance. Pain coarsed through Kiyomiko's body and she winced, feeling the wound that Neji had sustained as if it had been her own until the boy's body healed beneath her fingers. As soon as the chakra-thread around their hearts appeared clearly, Neji's heart started again, thumping against his chest faintly as Kiyomiko gasped, her own heart slowing to match his for a short time. Gradually, his heart gained strength as Kiyomiko fought to keep herself upright, the medical team almost right on top of her. She had to hurry!

As soon as the pain in her chest faded, Kiyomiko cut off the flow of chakra and the glowing thread disappeared just in time for the leader of the medical team to appear between the trees, the rest of the team arriving seconds later. Kiyomiko gasped for air and turned away when the leader knelt down at Neji's side so he wouldn't see her face for a few minutes. It had hurt so terribly bad, but it had been necessary for Neji to survive. After she had recovered, Kiyomiko explained the situation to the team leader as she hauled herself to her feet, dusting dirt and grass from her clothes. Her body felt numb and awkward, weak from healing Neji's wounds but she had to keep going.

"_Yuki.. I need your help._" Kiyomiko's eyes lost focus for a moment when no one was looking and an icy chakra began to trickle into her system, reviving and restoring her strength as she let out a shaky sigh. "_Thank you._"

The chakra continued to join with hers and after a while, Kiyomiko could breathe easier. When Neji had been put onto a stretcher and carried away, Kiyomiko turned to look ahead, where Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru and Naruto's scents were coming from. The scents were fading fast and the air felt strange, charged with electricity and humid as if it were going to rain. The sensation of unease grew stronger still and Kiyomiko pressed a hand against her heart as she winced, just as the team leader glanced over at her.

"Are you alright, Amatsuki-sama?" The team leader asked, taking Kiyomiko by surprise. She turned to look at him from the corner of her eye, seeing his vague expression of concern as he looked down at her.

"I'm fine." Kiyomiko sighed, lowering her hand to her side as she looked ahead. "More of my friends are out there, including two of my teammates, Naruto and Sasuke.. I have to bring them home."

"Are you sure that you're alright to keep going? You're looking pale.." The team leader pressed on, lowering his voice so that only Kiyomiko heard him.

"Just make sure that nothing happens to Neji." Kiyomiko turned sharpyly, looking up into the young man's eyes with a deadly serious expression. His eyes widened slightly before he nodded, remaining silent. Kiyomiko nodded as well as she turned back to look in the direction of her friends, her eyes narrowing. "They split up again. Shikamaru is just ahead and Kiba is about a mile to the southeast. Naruto is the farthest ahead.. I have to go!"

Kiyomiko's eyes had widened when she had detected Naruto's scent, Sasuke's scent coming from the same direction. Without another word, Kiyomiko disappeared in a raging whirlwind of ice and snow, forcing her tired body to move as quickly as possible. Naruto's scent was fading too quickly! As she ran, the blizzard that surrounded her froze the leaves and treebranches that came into contact with her, creating a perfect trail for the medical team to follow. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kiyomiko could make out three more scents within the forest. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were here, probably at Tsunade's request. Temari was with Shikamaru and Kankuro was with Kiba, so they would be fine. Their wounds weren't life-threatening. But Naruto..!

Dropping from the trees, Kiyomiko appeared in a wide-open field that had been completely taken over by sand. Gaara was in the midst of a heated battle with a white-haired boy that Kiyomiko had never seen before, but the boy carried a curse mark and smelled of Orochimaru and death. Even though he was fighting on the level with Gaara, the boy was dying. For a moment, the battle ceased as both the boy and Gaara turned to look at Kiyomiko, their eyes widening at her appearance. Frost covered her skin, her lips were a pale blue and a thin layer of ice ringed her wide, pupil-less silver eyes. Specks of Neji's blood covered her pure white yukata, offset by the pale blue silk trim, her long black hair swaying in the breeze like a curtain of ink-black silk. Frost was beginning to form in a circle around her feet, coating the grass and wildflowers that surrounded her despite her best efforts at keeping Yuki's chakra contained.

"Gaara.." Kiyomiko breathed, her eyes locking with his. Without saying a word, Gaara nodded slightly and pointed in the direction that Naruto's scent was coming from, giving her silent permission to leave him and tend to Naruto.

When the white-haired boy realized that Kiyomiko was going to leave, he tried to stop her, his bones spiking through his flesh at disgusting angles but Kiyomiko disappeared, freezing anything that touched the raging whirlwind around her. She ran out of the field and into the forest on the other side, Naruto's scent growing slightly stronger with each stride, the scent of fresh water growing nearer as well. In the distance, she saw two huge statues and her eyes widened. This was the Valley of The End, where the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara had battled and where Madara had died.

Huge grey rainclouds hung over the giant waterfall, rain falling to ground and freezing as Kiyomiko ran across it. Jumping down into the valley, Kiyomiko saw a crumpled heap of orange laying on the riverbank and her heart almost stopped. Naruto's scent was coming from the heap and Kiyomiko approached it almost cautiously, as if she didn't want to see the truth. There, in the dirt, lay her best friend, bruised and battered, covered in wounds and motionless. She couldn't hear his heartbeat as she dropped to her knees beside him, her eyes wide as she pressed her fingers against the side of his neck. He was cold and no pulse beat against her fingertips. Suddenly, Kiyomiko couldn't breathe.

She had been too late.. Carefully taking Naruto's cold, wet body into her arms, she hugged him to her chest as tears rolled down her cheeks, freezing on her face and dropping like tiny hailstones. Sasuke's scent was all over Naruto's body and Kiyomiko gasped, looking down at the pale boy in her arms, silently pleading with him to open his eyes. The boy never moved and Kiyomiko shut her eyes tight, carefully laying the boy back down on the bank of the river and laying down beside him, taking his limp hand in hers as she wove her fingers between his. It was all her fault.. If she had never left Orochimaru in the first place, he would never have gone to Konoha for Sasuke! But now she had a chance to fix something, a chance to bring Naruto back.

"_Gomen ne_, Kyubi.." Kiyomiko smiled weakly as tears continued to fall, propping herself up on her elbow, one hand holding on to Naruto's hand as the other reached up to her heart, a strange white chakra forming as she drew her fingertips away. Strings of the white chakra clung to her fingers as she pressed them against Naruto's chest, over his heart, and the chakra strings seeped into his body. "You probably won't like me for this but try to bear it for a little while, alright?"

As soon as she had finished speaking, Kiyomiko's heart ached suddenly, causing the young girl to gasp and fall onto her back, her hand gripping Naruto's tightly as her eyes rolled back into her head. Gradually, her heartbeat gradually slowed as if she were dying before it steadied and beat at half the pace, the other half being transferred to Naruto's heart through the strings of white chakra. It was just enough to keep them both alive, though in a dormant state similar to hibernation until the medical team found them. She hoped that they would find her soon.

-(o.O)-

"Kiyomiko! Naruto!" Gaara suddenly stood upright, startling the medical ninjas that tended to his wounds as they scurried back a few steps. Everyone looked up at Gaara and noticed his strangely worried expression as he started walking in a random direction. Another boy, Shikamaru, whom he recognized from the Chunin Exams, stood up and started following after Gaara and they were soon joined by Temari and Kankuro. Gaara had won his battle against Kimimaro but he had gotten injured and he was exhausted, yet he still had strength left for this.

The feel of the air had changed suddenly and Gaara picked up the pace, now jogging and soon running towards the source of the change, the air growing colder and somehow lighter as he got closer and closer. Standing on a clifftop, he could see a waterfall between two giant statues and his eyes followed the flow of the water until they promptly froze, seeing two figures lying on the riverbank side by side. One was bright orange and the other was pure white, a strange energy rising between them.

Before Temari and Kankuro could stop them, Gaara and the Shikamaru took off down the cliffside, running towards the two figures on the riverbank just as two more figures appeared beside them. Gaara looked over to see Kiyomiko's teacher, Kakashi, and another man, middle-aged with long white hair, running beside them. Soon, the group made it to the riverbank to see Kiyomiko and Naruto lying side by side, holding hands with a strange white chakra connecting their hearts.

"No..!" The white-haired man gasped as he suddenly appeared beside the two children, his eyes wide and he pressed his ear against both of their chests. Kakashi, too, knelt down beside Kiyomiko, looking between his students with confusion. "Kakashi, Kiyomiko has learned the Amatsuki Clan techniques.. She has successfully performed a soul link with Naruto.. If either one should die.. then so would the other.. We cannot seperate them now until both have been fully healed!"

"There's no time for the medical team to get here. We need to get them back to Konoha!" Kakashi said, his voice betraying his worry.

Before anyone could speak further, Gaara's sand carefully slipped beneath Kiyomiko and Naruto, forming a stable platform before it carefully hovered up into the air between the two men. After it had hovered upwards about two feet off the ground, more sand appeared, forming a blanket of sorts, to keep the two children from slipping off or getting jostled around. Kakashi, Shikamaru and the other man turned to look at Gaara as Temari and Kankuro finally showed up, walking up behind them and catching sight of Kiyomiko and Naruto, their eyes widening.

"Gaara, do you have enough chakra to maintain this all the way to Konoha?" Kakashi asked with a terribly serious expression. Before Gaara could answer, he felt a hand on his shoulder and an unfamiliar chakra seeped into his system. His eyes widened slightly and he turned to see Shikamaru's hand on his shoulder, the boy giving what little chakra he had left to Gaara and weakening himself.

"If we go slow enough, I'll be able to help out with my Puppet Strings." Kankuro stepped forward, placing a hand on Gaara's shoulder. Temari passed around the few food pills she had on her, giving one to Gaara and another to Kankuro and Shikamaru so the Nara boy could regain his strength and keep up. It didn't help much, but between Shikamaru's chakra and the chakra he regained from Temari's food pill, he might just be able to maintain his sand until they reached Konoha, especially if Kankuro took some of the burden by helping Gaara guide the floating platform.

"Alright. Let's get going." The white-haired man nodded and soon the group was walking back towards Konoha with Kiyomiko and Naruto between them, being carried in a bundle of sand. Gaara had been careful not to disrupt the strange white chakra that linked his friends' hearts, keeping his sand as far away from it as possible while still securing their bodies at the exact same distance they had been found at. He had no idea what it was, but he knew that he had to protect their lives, because if one died then the other would die as well.

As soon as they reached the top of the cliff and walked back into the forest towards Konoha, another medical team showed up, this one straight from Konoha. They handed out supplies, water, food pills and whatnot as they tended to wounds on the move. Gaara, Kankuro and Shikamaru kept walking the whole way without stopping, not even to rest. By the time they reached Konoha, the sun was beginning to set and Tsunade stood at the main gate into the village.

"What happened..?" Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw what was being protected by Gaara's bundle of sand and she ushered them into the village without another word. Gaara covered up Kiyomiko and Naruto's faces to protect their identities from the villagers as they parted before Tsunade, forming a path for the strange procession.

Once they reached the hospital, Shikamaru was led away by an older man that looked like his father while Gaara and Kankuro continued on behind Tsunade as she led them into a private section of the hospital. There, a pair of beds had been set together and Gaara carefully lowered Kiyomiko and Naruto onto the beds, his vision beginning to blur because he had used so much chakra to keep them steady. As soon as the sand was clear of the two children, a medical team stormed into the room and Gaara dropped down to one knee, Kankuro appearing at his side an instant later.

Tsunade stood in front of them and promptly ordered the two Suna boys out while she tended to Kiyomiko and Naruto's wounds, telling them that she would find them when she had more information. Just then, Tsunade's aid, Shizune, rushed into the room with wide eyes, looking pale and frantic as she ran up to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama, the Hyuga boy! He was close to death a few minutes ago but now his heartbeat is steady, his vitals are returning to normal!" Shizune explained before she looked behind Tsunade to see Kiyomiko's motionless form, connected to Naruto.

"Damn it! She connected herself to two people!" Tsunade glowered, biting down on her thumbnail for a moment as she thought, suddenly turning to Shizune. "Bring the Hyuga boy in here now! The closer he is to Kiyomiko, the better his chances are! And get these two out of here!"

Before Gaara could protest, he and Kankuro were led out of the operating room and into a waiting room where the remaining Konoha Rookies, their families and their teachers were waiting. Gaara even saw three children sitting in a corner as Kankuro led him to a chair, which someone had just vacated for him. As soon as Gaara sat down, he closed his eyes with a faint sigh and he was out like a light.

-(o.O)-

_Kiyomiko slowly opened her eyes to find herself looking up at an overcast sky, tiny snowflakes landing all around her. Everything was so quiet, she was afraid to breathe for fear of breaking the silence. She was so comfortable, laying on her back in the snow like this, her long black hair pooling around her head like a puddle of ink, her pale skin almost blending in with the pure snow. A gentle breeze caused the leaf-less trees to sway around her and she smiled, the breeze warm against her skin._

_"Don't go.."_

_A whisper from somewhere nearby stopped Kiyomiko from falling asleep again, opening her eyes and glancing around her. Seeing no one nearby, Kiyomiko just shrugged inwardly and closed her eyes again, just wanting to be left alone so she could get some sleep. She had never felt so comfortable before._

_All of a sudden, her hand felt like it was on fire and her eyes snapped open with a gasp. Sitting bolt upright, she looked down at her hand with wide eyes, flexing and stretching her fingers slowly. It didn't hurt anymore, but there was a tingling sensation around it and the scent of cinnamon and cloves swirled around her on the warm breeze. What was going on..? All she wanted to do was sleep!_

_Slowly getting to her feet, Kiyomiko dusted the snow and ice from her clothes and looked around. She was in a winter forest, with no one around for miles, the snow untouched and undisturbed. Randomly choosing a direction, Kiyomiko started walking, her bare feet trudging through the ankle-deep snow as she walked through the trees. She walked for what felt like hours, not caring which direction she went as long as she could just sleep peacefully._

_"Kiyomiko.." Another voice whispered her name, soft on the breeze and Kiyomiko turned, stumbling over a root and falling into the snow clumsily. There was no one there, no matter which way she looked, she was alone! So why was she hearing these whispers? Was she losing her mind?_

_Laying back in the snow pile, she sighed, bringing her hands up to her face and blocking out the soft light around her. She didn't care anymore, she was too tired to keep walking, too tired to fight it anymore. The scent of cinnamon and cloves faded slightly, another scent of fresh grass and trees joining with it, the scent of rain and electricity somewhere nearby as well. So many scents bombarded her and confused her senses ad she whined, rolling onto her side and burying her head in the snow. Just go away!_

_"Kiyomiko-chan, you're not supposed to be here." A woman's voice sighed and Kiyomiko looked up, half-surprised when she saw a familiar girl standing over her, her pupil-less smokey grey eyes almost sad. "Come on, you have to get up now."_

_"But I just want to sleep.." Kiyomiko whined like a tired child, but the older girl took Kiyomiko's arm and pulled her up, not taking no for an answer._

_"It's not time for you to sleep yet. You still have a lot to do." The older girl smiled sadly and Kiyomiko blinked. Why was she so sad? She just wanted to sleep, was that really so wrong? Without another word, the older girl turned Kiyomiko around and gave her a gentle shove in the opposite direction and all of a sudden, darkness enveloped Kiyomiko._

_The next thing Kiyomiko knew, she was swallowed up by the darkness as pain wracked her body. She gasped and tried to open her eyes, but she felt so terribly heavy, as if something where weighing her down. She gasped and struggled, trying to move her limbs but everything hurt. After a while, she gave up trying to move and just sighed, waiting for the pain to pass._

_"Kiyomiko.." Kiyomiko groaned when she heard yet another voice whisper to her, except this one was more insistant than the others. "Kiyomiko?"_

_"What?" Kiyomiko croaked, her voice raspy and weak for some reason. It surprised Kiyomiko, sounding almost like she hadn't used her voice in a long time, even though she had just been speaking to that older girl a few minutes ago.._

_"It's alright now, Kiyomiko. I've found you.." The voice was familiar and young.. Like a boy's, a few years older than her.. Kiyomiko felt a familiar presence somewhere around her and she sighed, somehow comforted by it. "You slipped away from me for a while, but I've found you, I can't start healing you now."_

_"mmkay.." Kiyomiko mumbled weakly, wishing she could roll over onto her side and sleep, but she guessed that laying on her back like this was fine too._

_"Get some rest.. You're safe now.."_

-(o.O)-

"Oh!.. Tsunade-sama!" Kiyomiko groaned weakly when she heard an annoyingly familiar voice around her, frantically trying to get someone's attention. "Tsunade-sama! Come quickly!"

"Everyone _move_! Get out!" Oh hey, another annoyingly familiar voice.. This one was shouting out commands like she ran the place.. Oh wait.. Maybe she did.. Kiyomiko pondered this for a moment before she heard the faint sound of shuffling feet and hurried footsteps in heels. She felt something shift beside her and then a cool sensation across her torso that almost tickled. "What is it, Shizune?"

"Look at her wounds.. They're completely healed!" Huh? Wounds..? What wounds?

"How is that possible..? I checked her just this morning!" The bossy voice sighed in annoyance before Kiyomiko heard a gasp and felt a gentle pressure against her torso, a quick sting of pain jabbing at her as if she had just been stabbed.

"Ah! Sonovabitch, that hurts! Knock it off!" Kiyomiko croaked, slapping away the person's hand weakly before she went into a coughing fit, rolling onto her side slightly so she could get enough air in her lungs. She heard an incredulous scoff before a faint chuckle reached her ears and Kiyomiko forced her eyes open slowly, looking up to see Tsunade and Shizune standing over her. She was suddenly bombarded with the sour scent of antiseptics and the white walls were too bright. "Fuuuuck.. I'm in the hospital again, aren't I..?"

"Well, if you're strong enough to struggle and curse like that, you're going to be fine." Tsunade let out an exhausted sigh as Kiyomiko tried to sit up, another sharp pain in her abdomen halting her progress. "How are you feeling?"

"That's a stupid question.." Kiyomiko groaned as she raised an arm to point at the curtains, shielding her eyes with her other hand. Shizune seemed to get the message and she quickly closed the heavy curtains, blocking out all natural light, leaving only a small, dim light by the door. "How long was I out?"

"Only a week this time." Tsunade leaned over Kiyomiko and began poking and prodding her, checking her over for wounds against Kiyomiko's will. After she was done, she folded her arms across her chest with a sigh. "I don't know how you did it, but your wounds have all completely healed. The chakra burns over your heart were terrible, worse than I've ever seen before, but they're gone now, mostly."

"Yuki.." Kiyomiko closed her eyes with a sigh, pressing a hand to her forehead to stop the spinning sensation. Tsunade raised an eyebrow for a moment before she changed the subject.

"Now that you're awake, you have a very important visitor. He's been pressuring me into letting him see you the second you woke up." Tsunade rolled her eyes with a faint scowl of irritation as she and Shizune crossed the room and disappeared behind the thin curtain that surrounded Kiyomiko's bed. Kiyomiko heard the door slide open and a few shuffling footsteps. "She's awake now. You can go in and sit with her."

Kiyomiko blinked a few times as she heard more shuffling footsteps before a door closed, a single set of footsteps calmly walking across the room until a tall figure appeared from around the curtain, looking down at Kiyomiko with a solemn expression. It was the Hyuga Clan leader, Hiashi. He walked over to Kiyomiko's bedside and sat down on the wooden stool next to her.

"Hiashi-sama..!" Kiyomiko blinked and tried to sit up, wincing at the pain and Hiashi held out a hand to stop her, allowing her to lay back down. "I'm afraid I'm not yet well enough to tend to clan matters, Hiashi-sama."

"That's not why I'm here." Hiashi stated plainly, sitting silent for a few minutes before he sighed, looking remarkably.. normal. "I understand that you were the one who saved Neji's life."

"Neji..?" Kiyomiko's eyes widened and she tried to sit up again, this time succeeding despite the pain, surprising Hiashi slightly. "How is he? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He's resting comfortably at the Hyuga compound now. The Main damily's medics are tending to him personally." Hiashi's flicker of surprise faded into a small smile, which made Kiyomiko blink for a second before she sighed in relief. "All of the other children are fine, as well. The Akimichi boy is still here in the hospital, recovering, as well as the Uzumaki boy and the Inuzuka boy."

"Thank you.. for telling me." Kiyomiko smiled weakly as she slowly laid back down, pressing a hand against her aching chest as she rested her head against the pillow behind her. Kiyomiko allowed her eyes to close for a moment but soon she heard footsteps around her as Hiashi stood, pulling the sheet up around Kiyomiko's shoulders before he left the room.

After Hiashi left, Kiyomiko fell asleep again. She didn't know how long she was asleep but when she woke, a cool sensation had enveloped her and there were sweet scents around her. Cinnamon and cloves, fresh grass and trees, rain and lightning, sweet strawberries and cherries.. They were all familiar to her and when she opened her eyes, she saw familiar faces sitting around her, looking exhausted as if they had been there the whole time. It was dark, but Kiyomiko could see clearly now, the heavy curtains drawn aside and the windows open, light from the full moon pouring into the room.

Gaara was there, as well as Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and Shikamaru, all of them asleep except for Gaara and Shikamaru, sitting on either side of her bed. Gaara was leaning forward with his hand laid over hers and Shikamaru was leaning against the wall behind him, staring down at the bedsheets with a distant expression. Kiyomiko closed her eyes for a second and inhaled their scents with a small smile, feeling Gaara's hand lightly squeeze hers as if testing her and she gently squeezed back, almost chuckling when she heard his gasp. Apparently, Shikamaru had heard it too and he sat up suddenly, nearly falling off of the chair he was sitting in.

"Kiyomiko..?" Gaara whispered, feeling her weak squeeze against his fingers. Kiyomiko felt Shikamaru take her other hand and she opened her eyes to see both boys staring down at her with wide eyes, their expressions betraying their worry and concern. Everyone else in the room started to wake slowly, though Kiyomiko somehow knew that Kakashi had been awake the whole time, letting the two boys have their moment alone with the girl.

"Hey.." Kiyomiko sighed with a smile, reaching up to touch the boys' faces as she looked between the two. Their eyes widened when her delicate, cool hands cupped their cheeks and they both smiled slightly, relief washing over them in a wave. Kiyomiko chuckled weakly, seeing their unusually goofy expressions. "You two look like hell.. When's the last time either of you ate something?"

"I hate to break it to you, Kiyo-chan, but you're not looking that great yourself." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. Kiyomiko giggled softly and slowly tried to sit up, her muscles stiff and cold from staying still for too long. Shikamaru was right. Kiyomiko's long black hair was a mess, curling around her body at odd angles and her skin was pale, moreso than usual, faint circles around her eyes from exhaustion.

"What are you talking about? I'm gorgeous." Kiyomiko snrked, giving Shikamaru a playful smirk and a weak shove as she finally sat up and righted herself, drawing the thin white sheet around her chest as she smoothed out her hair so that it hung around her shoulders. When she was finished, she turned and saw that Shikamaru and Gaara were staring at her with wide eyes and she blinked, raising an eyebrow as she looked between the two silent boys. "What..? I know I'm a mess, but geez, it was just a joke.."

By now, Naruto and Sakura had fully woken up and Kakashi was leaning back against the far wall with a book in his lap and a knowing expression when he glanced at Kiyomiko. Before she had a chance to question him about it, Naruto started making a fuss and Sakura started bickering again before Kiyomiko quieted them down with a soft giggle. Even sitting here in the hospital, looking so weak and frail, Kiyomiko's smile was still radiant, reminding Gaara and Shikamaru of the moon when she giggled. Soon after, everything started to return to normal. Sakura left the room to get some food and Naruto was scolding Kakashi for reading such naughty books in front of Kiyomiko when she was still recovering, Gaara and Shikamaru sitting quietly, never leaving her side for more than a few minutes as Temari, Kankuro, all of the Konoha Rookies and their teachers piled into the large room, all wishing Kiyomiko well as they brought small gifts and flowers.

They weren't the only ones. By the time Kiyomiko had gotten out of the hospital, the Amatsuki compound was over-run, flowers lining the high stone walls as she walked passed, leaning on Kakashi slightly so she wouldn't fall. All of the shop owners that had expanded into the compound came outside and wished her well, including Hideki, who looked shocked by her frail appearance but quickly recovered when she smiled at him slightly. Kakashi led Kiyomiko into her house and passed a pair of small suitcases in the entryway, sitting her down in a chair as she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What's all that in my entryway?" Kiyomiko asked dryly and Kakashi paused comically, reaching up to rub the back of his head nervously.

"Ahh.. Well.. Tsunade-sama has requested that I move in here with you.." Kakashi began with a nervous chuckle, turning to look over his shoulder slowly at Kiyomiko's expression. Her eyebrows were raised half-way into her hairline and her eyes were wide as if she didn't believe it. "That way, I could keep an eye on you until you're fully healed.."

There was a long and awkward silence between the two and Kakashi started to sweat, wondering just how badly Kiyomiko was going to take the news. She sat in the chair as if she were frozen, her pale , pupil-less silver eyes wide as she looked up at him. After a second or two, she blinked and she dropped her shoulders in a heavy sigh of defeat. Kakashi's head tilted slightly in a puzzled expression.

"Fine." Kiyomiko said quietly, raising her head in an exhausted expression. Miraculously, she wasn't going to fight it. "You can have the room across from mine, the one on the other side of the stairs. It's far enough away that I won't hear you giggling like a little girl when you're reading those books at night."

Kakashi sweatdropped but at least she wasn't angry. Counting his blessings, Kakashi hurriedly put the suitcases in the room that Kiyomiko had deemed "his" until she was back on her feet again. It would be strange for both of them, living with another person but Kiyomiko decided that maybe.. it wouldn't be so bad.. And then she remembered what day it was and she facepalmed, surprising Kakashi when he walked back into the room.

"Okay, first order of business.." Kiyomiko began, leaning on the chair as she stood up, Kakashi walking to her side to take her arm and help her. "We're going on a little errand, only no one can see where we're going. Think you can manage that, Copy Ninja Kakashi?"

"Eh..?" Kakshi blinked for a second, looking down at his student's challenging expression before he sighed. So, this is how it would be living with another person. Ah well. "Yeah, I think I can manage something like that. Only, there's one problem."

"And what would that be?" Kiyomiko raised an eyebrow and then suddenly squeaked when Kakashi swept her up into his arms, her eyes wide as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "What the-?"

"You still haven't fully recovered yet." Kakashi said matter-of-factly as he opened the sliding door to the large gardens behind the house, somehow knowing already where they were going. Kiyomiko's blush spread further and she started to pout like a kid. She was so cute sometimes. "I'll have to carry you so we can make our getaway without being followed."

"Ha!" Kiyomiko snrked, pointing in the direction that they needed to go before she folded her arms across her chest and allowed herself to be carried. "You make it sound as if we're sneaking away to our secret base! What are you, five?"

"No, I didn't have a secret base when I was five, I was busy becoming a genin." Kakashi answered coolly as he carried Kiyomiko away from the Amatsuki clan estate and into the dense forest surrounding the village, Kiyomiko's long black hair loose down her shoulders and swaying in the gentle breeze. Kiyomiko looked up at him with wide eyes and an expression of disbelief. "..What?"

"You've gotta be kidding me.. You didn't have a secret base when you were a kid..?" Kiyomiko blinked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. Kakashi shrugged slightly and Kiyomiko rolled her eyes. "Even I had a secret base when I was five! Though mine was underground.. and scary."

Silence stretched on for a few minutes as Kakashi jumped through the trees, carrying Kiyomiko towards the training cave where she had been teaching the rest of the Konoha Rookies under the noses of their teachers, the blush on the girl's cheeks spreading slightly before she started giggling. Kakashi chuckled and soon the two arrived at the cave opening and he carried Kiyomiko inside, a familiar pale blue glow coming to meet them as he walked into the main chamber. It was completely empty, but when Kakashi set Kiyomiko down, she carefully walked into one of the smaller rooms off to the side and returned with a box-shaped item in her arms, wrapped with a thin dark blue cloth. Something rustled from within the box and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I got an idea for this a while ago, after seeing those birds that the Third used.." Kiyomiko grinned mysteriously as she walked into the center of the chamber, standing beneath the small opening in the ceiling of the chamber. Carefully, she pulled away the thin cloth and dropped it around the box which turned out to be a small birdcage made out of sticks and twine. It was rather well made, all things considered. Inside the cage was a small white bird that looked like a sparrow, but sparrows were brown and white.. "I found her before she hatched, the rest of her siblings had already left and she was the last one. We all took care of her and when we set her free, she just flew around the village for a while before she came right back."

"What is she?" Kakashi knelt down beside the cage as Kiyomiko opened it, the small white bird hopping off of it's perch and onto her finger as she lifted it out of the cage. It stayed on her finger and Kiyomiko smiled, gently stroking the small bird's head with the tip of her finger.

"She's a sparrow. Best as I can figure, she was influenced by all of our chakra while she was still in her egg. She was born like this." Kiyomiko held the little bird up to Kakashi's eye-level and the bird looked back at him with pale blue eyes, it's pure white feathers glittering in the sunlight above it. After a few minutes, Kiyomiko smiled down at the little bird on her finger. "Sora-chan, do you think you could go and get the others?

The little bird chirped suddenly as if it had understood Kiyomiko's request and took off into the air, flying out of the small opening in the cavern ceiling without a moment's hesitation, a single pure white feather floating down from the ceiling. Kiyomiko gave a little jump and caugt the feather, putting it back into the little rustic birdcage with a smile. After a few minutes, Kiyomiko walked over to the natural freshwater spring and grabbed a pair of wooden bowls, dunking them into the water before she brought one to Kakashi, both of them sitting down on a raised portion of the floor that Kiyomiko called "The Platform" while they waited for the little bird, Sora, to return.

About half an hour later, Sora appeared, diving through the small hole in the ceiling and swooping over to Kiyomiko, landing on her head with an almost triumphant chirp, as if the little bird had accomplished it's mission. Kiyomiko giggled softly, holding up her water bowl and the little bird hopped over to it, perching itself on the edge and dipping it's beak into the water. A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps in the forest-side entrance reached Kiyomiko's ears and she turned to look at the stone archway just as Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji shuffled in, followed by Shino, Kiba and Hinata. They all seemed surprised to see Kiyomiko, especially with Sora still sitting on her head, but they were even more surprised to see Kakashi sitting beside her with an awkward wave. Neji, Lee and Tenten showed up a few seconds later with Naruto and Sakura coming in last.

"Well, now that we're all here.." Kiyomiko began with a smile when everyone had sat down, passing Sora to Tenten to put the little bird back in her cage. "We should get back to training."

"Uh.. Kiyo-chan.. You _do_ notice Kakashi-sensei sitting next to you, right?" Kiba blinked, pointing at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know he's here." Kiyomiko rolled her eyes and gave a small sigh. "He's basically my babysitter for a while. Tsunade-bachan even made him move in with me until I'm back up on my feet, so I can't really sneak away without him knowing."

"Don't worry, I'll keep everything I see here a secret. I'm just here to make sure that no one gets hurt." Kakashi raised his hands in a peace sign and all of the genins around him looked at him with raised eyebrows before turning back to look at Kiyomiko. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Well, that's how it is." Kiyomiko folded her arms across her chest as she looked at Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru with a serious stare that made them shift uncomfortably. "Are you three okay to do this?"

"I think we're all more worried about you, Kiyo-chan." Shikamaru spoke up, looking up at Kiyomiko with a knowing stare. "You shouldn't be out here yet. You haven't fully recovered."

"Who said that I was going to be doing any training?" Kiyomiko smirked as she raised her arms up in a cat-like stretch before she flopped backwards with a luxurious sigh. "I'm going to be lazy and let all of you do all the work!"

There were a few sighs and a few chuckles around the room and soon the Konoha Rookies got back to some light training while Kiyomiko, Kakashi and Shikamaru supervised. Surprising Kakashi, Kiyomiko activated her sharingan and watched her friends with a warm smile. They had passed their taijutsu training with flying colors and now they were working on ninjutsu. It was small-time, nothing more than practicing seals and maybe wrecking a training dummy or two, but the main goal of this was to control their chakra and speed up their seal-forming until it was as fast as Kiyomiko's.

A few times, one of the kids would come up to Kiyomiko and ask for a demonstration again and she would use her sharingan to memorize the seals they needed to form before she formed them at her speed. Kakashi was impressed with Kiyomiko's control over her sharingan and he was impressed by how well she was teaching her friends. Probably a little better than their own jonin teachers because she could connect with all of them on a personal level and all of them admired her. And now, with the added motivation to find Sasuke and bring him back, everyone was working harder than ever. Which, Kiyomiko scolded them for, telling them to take things at their own pace so they wouldn't tire themselves out. Like she was one to talk.

The training ended when the sun sunk below the horizon and Kiyomiko had fallen asleep, leaning on Shikamaru's shoulder with a soft smile. Kakashi had taken over for her for a while, giving advice where he could so they wouldn't have to wake the girl. From the corner of his vision, Kakashi looked over at Shikamaru to see the boy looking down at Kiyomiko with a silght smile on his face, but as soon as the boy had noticed that he was being watched, the smile vanished and he turned his attention back to the other Konoha Rookies.

Things were beginning to get interesting.


	20. Author's Note

Hey everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. I kinda lost interest in Naruto for a while but I'm back now!

Anyway, while I was off doing other things, I've been doing an obscene amount of writing and the good news is I've gotten a lot better!  
Bad news is.. my old stories kinda.. nyeh.. Lol. So, I'm going to be rewriting my Naruto story, chapter by chapter, cleaning up what should be cleaned up, making certain storyline details a little more prominent and just getting rid of the stuff that doesn't make any sense to me now.

And yes, I am aware of how overpowered my OC is. Unfortunately, that's a bad habit of mine and one that I don't really see myself breaking any time soon because I probably won't enjoy my own characters then. So you'll just have to make due. :3

Also, I've been working on trying to whip up a -picture- of Kiyomiko! :D Maybe that'll show up sometime in the near future?

Just some thoughts~

*runs off to get writing before fans (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) break out the whips and chains*

-Asia


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